I’ve found out my day to come home!! Yes, it is official. Finally. For awhile I wasn’t sure when it would be because the travel agent in charge of me hadn’t replied yet. But this past week I finally got my final confirmation of flight information. =DDDD I leave Denmark on June 15th at 3.45 pm. I go from Copenhagen to Chicago. And from Chicago, I head out to Portland. I will be officially landing in Portland at 11.30 pm! Yes, it’s a bit late. And then I have another 3 hour long drive until I’m actually in my house again. So it’s going to be a long night =P long day of travel. Let me count the hours real quick…it’s hard because I have to think about the time difference…which is 9 hours…two seconds………………………………OK I GOT IT!! I will be travelling roughly 17 hours straight that day. That’s not including my drive home. Wow. That is one long day. I will not be sleeping either, I can pert near guarantee it.
But the actual TRAVEL being set aside for now, I’m so excited =) in all honesty, a month ago, I wouldn’t have been excited at all. I had talked about this with my 2nd host family quite a bit. When I lived with them it was so hard to even think about leaving Denmark. To even entertain the idea that I was going home. I remember sitting in the bus one day, I think it was a Saturday, as I was heading into town probably to meet a friend. I remember sitting in this bus and thinking about going home. Thinking about all the people I’d be leaving behind. I nearly broke down in sobs on the bus. Then when I was on my study trip to bosnia, I also had a really hard time one of the nights. Me and one of the girls had to walk back to this one place and give a jacket back that was mistaken as ours. So she and I walked back, and we started talking about when I leave. This girl knows who she is and she knows that I will miss her so much. I started crying in the middle of the street when we were walking and talking about it. Then again even just this past week while I was at a party with my class, I was sitting on the couch with this same girl and I got extremely sad again. I’m not sure if anyone cares about those exact experiences, but I’m just trying to paint you the picture of my feelings right now. Right now, this exact moment, as I think about going home, as I think about packing all my stuff up for the last time, as I think about seeing my family and friends again, as I think about lying in my own soft big bed again, I can’t wait to go home. I could go home tomorrow and be the happiest girl in the world.
And that feeling is the reality at the moment. I love living in Denmark. I love my friends here. I love my families here. I love my life here. The freedoms, the culture. I wouldn’t change it for the world. But as it stands, I’ve been away from home for 269 days. 9 months. (and yes, by the way, I just counted. I haven’t been keeping track since I’ve been here) that is a long time to be away and on your own. It really is. And the fact of the matter is, I’m ready to go home. A month ago I know that I couldn’t say this. But whether I was ready for it or not, it was going to happen. So I’ve had to accept it. I’ve accepted the fact that I’m leaving my life here and taking my completely different self back with me. And I’ve accept the fact that I’m going to be leaving amazing people behind here. I don’t want anyone to confuse what I’m trying to say here. Yes, I’m ready to go home. But my heart is going to be broken into so many pieces when I leave. It’s going to kill me, and I know this. Saying goodbye to my best American friend at the airport is probably going to be one of the worst experiences of my life. And saying goodbye to my best Danish friends is going to be even harder than that. At least I’ve got a plan to see my other exchange student friends that live close by. But coming back to Denmark? I have no idea when that is going to happen again. And it hurts to think about it. It hurts knowing that there are people here that I may never see again. But I can’t think about it. It’s inevitable. I have to leave. I can’t postpone it. I can’t avoid it. I have to accept it. Because if I don’t, that’s going to hurt me even more than it already is. So I’m trying to keep going on in my Danish life. I’m living everyday to the fullest here because I don’t have many left. 51 to be exact from this day. That’s insane to think about. I know.
My friends and family back home are really excited to see me again. Parties are being planned. Vacations are being planned. Road trips are being planned. It sounds like life back home is going to keep going despite the fact that I will have just returned from a year of my life away. I think it’s better that way. I think it’s better that I’ll be kept at least somewhat busy when I come home that way I won’t be too ‘homesick’ for Denmark. They say that your first 2 weeks home are the hardest of your entire exchange. We’ll see how this one plays out.
But as it stands now, I’m coming home on June 15th. I’m happier than a clam to be coming home. I miss home. But I’m sadder than that donkey from Winnie the Pooh about leaving Denmark and my friends and families. It’s a hard mixture of feelings to have in one body. Sometimes it overflows one way or the other. I just wanted everyone to know. I’m looking forward to seeing you all again back home. I’m excited to see the ocean from my window again. But for my friends in Denmark and my families that might be reading this, I just want to tell you that I’m going to miss you all so much. And it pains me to think about leaving some of you behind. You’ll be in my heart forever.
Thanks for reading this latest entry about my feelings. There will be more updates coming this week. Stay posted k =)) love you all. Thanks for the support. I’m almost home!
Kram,
Rebekah
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Welcome to Sarajevo
This past week I was on a school trip with my class to Sarajevo the capital of Bosnia. I am in the second year of high school here, and most second year classes take a class trip together. A lot of classes choose to go to Spain or Italy or Greece or someplace like that, but our class and our teachers chose to take us to Sarajevo. In my class of 26 people, there are 4 girls that actually had moved from Bosnia to Denmark when they were little. So I think that played a big role in us going there. I think, in the end, that our teachers didn’t want to take us to someplace in Europe that most of the people would just go see anyway. On vacations with families in Europe who would ever choose to go to Bosnia unless you had some kind of family there? Exactly, few would go. But I’m so happy that we went to Sarajevo and not any other place in Europe.
Bosnia, along with mostly all of the other Eastern European countries, is just so different from Western Europe. The culture is completely different along with the history behind the country. Now me, I love history and learning about what has happened in the past, so I could go on for PAGES about the history of Bosnia, but since I know that a lot of people think that’s boring, I’ll just be brief. Bosnia used to be a part of the country Yugoslavia. Ring a bell? Right. ok, and after the communist leader Tito died, the country broke out into a giant civil war that lasted about 4 years. The dates were 1992-1995. The war was between Serbs, Croats, and Bosniacs. And long story short, the Serbs were trying to push the Bosniacs out of the main city of Sarajevo, and there was a huge siege there. Ok. After the war ‘finished’ and peace was called, the former Yugoslavia no longer existed. It was now broken into Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Slovenia? I think. I’m not too sure about that last one actually. But you get the picture. The 4 girls in our class immigrated to Denmark from Bosnia with their families during the war. The crazy thing is that this all happened only 15 years ago. ONLY. It just puts a lot of things into perspective I think. But don’t worry, for those of you who are. It is a relatively peaceful and working country now. Relatively.
So now, let me begin with what our tour entailed. We left at approx. 5.33 in the morning from Næstved train station heading to Copenhagen to catch our plane. O wait, did I say 5.33? yea what I meant to say was that summer time had officially begun and it was actually 4.33 to our bodies. My host dad drove me into town, but we got a little confused when our watches read 5.15 and yet the clock on the dashboard read 4.15. we had no idea what the time was! So we had to go into a gas station and ask the guy, and turns out, YEP, that we were an hour early getting into town -_- apparently his cell phone and my cell phone automatically change time, which neither of us knew. So when we set our clocks to wake us up at 3.50 (4.50 in the new time) it actually WAS 3.50. =P so we drove back home and waited then drove back into town at the correct time.
Once we were actually on the train, it was more or less smooth sailing. We got off an hour later in Copenhagen and caught another train headed to the airport. After actually arriving at the airport, most of us were there and began to check in our luggage and get our tickets. Wait, did I just say MOST of us??? Yes, you read correctly. 2 of the girls in my class didn’t see when to get off the train to the airport and were currently in SWEDEN. Don’t worry, eventually they made it back. I think it was like 30 minutes later or something. Way after all of us had checked in. but then! We boarded our plane headed for Vienna, Austria, where we would connect to a flight leading to Sarajevo =)
When we arrived in Vienna we headed straight for our gate, went through security again, tried to check in, and hit another problem. In order to enter Bosnia, a person must be 18 or have parent signatures. Now this wasn’t a problem for me as I’m 18 now, but half of my class is underage. So there was a slight problem, yes? Yes! So my teachers were on the phone with the Bosnian Embassy trying to convince them to let us all in the country. There was a bit of panic for awhile as we didn’t know if the class was going back to Denmark or if only part of us were going to Sarajevo. It was just a super complicated situation. But eventually! We were all allowed to board the plane and head to Sarajevo. We were a little late I think, but no biggie as that was our last stop anyway. So then after we landed in Bosnia, we went through customs and passport security and everything for what felt like the millionth time. Then we ran into another problem. The people under 18 were still not allowed to come into the country! Yea, you read correctly. We thought we had fixed this all back in Vienna, but apparently not. So those of us overage went through and grabbed our bags and waited for maybe 20 minutes for the passport security people to let the rest of our class in. They were back on the phone with the embassy and blah blah blah. You know. I wasn’t in that part, so I only heard about what happened, but one of the Bosnian girls from our class went up and spoke with the people and eventually convinced them to let us in I guess. Awesome =)) finally we were off in Sarajevo!!
We took a bus to our hotel and were all checked in then we just hung around a bit. We went out to dinner and ate some good traditional Bosnian food. =) then me and my friend Mikkel and his roommate walked around the city a bit just exploring. It was great. When it started to get kind of dark out, we headed back to the hotel, and most people just crashed after that. I remember that most of us went to bed around 9-10 because we had had a SUPER long day and we were all tuckered out. I know I hit the sack super early. Like 9.30 maybe. It was earlier than both of my roommates. =P and I’m usually the party animal, ha! ^_^
Monday, after everyone had gotten a good night’s sleep, we started our first day in the city completing our scheduled activities. We were up and out of the hotel by 8 in the morning and headed out to go exchange our money. We first stopped by the post office close to our hotel thinking maybe they could, but we ended up just getting told to go find a bank somewhere. So that’s what we did. We walked a bit of a ways through the ‘old town’ and found our way to this really long street just filled with stores, cafes, and banks. We all exchanged our money into the Bosnian mark (it’s a little weaker than the USD, so it was great to use that kind of money system again!) and then we walked a bit more. We had to walked and catch a train leading to the other side of the city so we could meet some professors at the university and interview them and just have them talk to us about the war and the history and the present. It was super interesting, although the men had heavy accents. It was hard for me to understand them at some points so I can only imagine what it was like for my Danish classmates trying to pay attention. But seriously, all in all, it was so interesting. Two ladies that were children and living in Sarajevo during the war came also and just answered some questions that we had for them about life and such. It was great. We ended up leaving there about 1 and we went across the street to a bit shopping mall and ate lunch. One thing that I learned while me and my friend Mikkel were eating lunch is that in Bosnia, it’s still ok to smoke inside! Like in restaurants and bars. Crazy! Anywayz, after lunch we were supposed to go out into our groups and interview people if that’s what we needed to do for our project. The group I was in didn’t need to do this, but they had left earlier than I, so I just tagged along with another group and talked to some people with them. After that, about 4.30-5, we arrived back at our hotel after taking a taxi, hey we had walked for what seemed like forever. No way were we walking back ^_^ so I got to my room and just crashed for like an hour I think and napped a bit. And then! We all went out for dinner again and then headed to a bar after that to chill out. Even my teachers went and drank. =P it was a bar called “Cheers” but it was really crowded and really smokey. Not long after we got there, maybe an hour at most, me and a group of girls decided to go to another place, so that we did =) we went to a Cuban themed pub. It was very cozy, and we just hung there for a bit talking and laughing and enjoying each other. After that we went to one more place just to see what it was like, then at like 1-1.30 in the morning, we landed back at our hotel. Great night.
The morning waking up and leaving again by 8 was not so great -_- this day we were headed to one of the oldest national parks in Europe. We were supposed to drive one hour to get there, walk three hours, then come home. So our bus picked us up and we headed out. There was a little tour guide there for our amusement on the drive there. He was pretty funny some of the time, but the rest of the time it was just like, come on, we all want to sleep, go away ^_^ o, right, and another thing that he brought to our attention was that it wasn’t in fact only one hour away. It was actually 2 because of the roads. Ok. No problem I guess. THREE HOURS LATER OF WINDING ROADS AND CRAZY BOSNIAN DRIVING, we arrived at the national park. -_- not only we were all exhausted from our night before and exhausted from being cooped up in a bus with no room for three hours, it was actually raining when we got there. Greattttttt. =P our first stop was visiting a big monument dedicated to the 3,000 people who died defending Bosnia (Yugoslavia) against the Germans during WWII. To get there we had to walk up a billion stairs in the rain, but once we got there our tour guide explained what it was about and such. What could have easily been explained in 10 minutes ended up taking what felt like forever because there was one man explaining about the monument and its significance and another man was translating to us. Then we walked a little ways a visited an old bunker also dedicated to these 3,000 people who died. There were murals on the walls of this concrete bunker, really moving pictures some of them. And all of the names of the people were inscribed on the walls. After seeing that, our teachers decided to skip the rest of what we were going to see and we headed back to the bus, piled in, and drove about 30 minutes to the part of a mountain we were going to climb. We eventually all got to the top of this mountain. Through fog and rain and snow and mud and trees. Yea, we all got there eventually ^_^ after that, we headed back down the mountain and piled into the bus and WENT HOME! =D I think we were all excited about that. It was about 5 when we finally arrived home. We were originally supposed to be back at 2, and none of us had eaten since lunch and the little snack we brought we us for the mountain. So we all got cleaned up and went out to dinner with the various groups that we chose =) I went with one of my roommates and 2 of my good guys friends. We ate at this little place. I got pizza. There were a lot of places that sold pizza there. Kind of surprising =P but we ate, then me and my girlfriend went into town and shopped a bit, or tried to, once the boys left us. We found lots of stuff we liked, but nothing we wanted to buy. You understand that feeling, I’m sure =) but we made our way back to the hotel when it started getting dark and cold. Then I’m almost positive we all just stayed in and crashed for the night.
Wednesday was a special day. It was a boy’s 18th birthday in my class. Here in Denmark, 18 is like our sweet 16. People go super crazy. And the fact that he got to celebrate his 18th in a foreign country just made it even crazier! So we all woke up and said ‘tillykke’ to him and then we left our hotel for the rest of the day’s activities at about 9.30. on this day we had a little ‘scavenger hunt’ around the city of Sarajevo in our little groups. We had to find old buildings that were important. We saw a Serbian church, a Croat Catholic cathedral, and we got to go inside of a Bosniac mosque. I was so excited to go to the mosque. Like I had been literally looking forward to it since Monday. I’ve never been inside of one before and I thought it was super interesting. I’ve never encountered many Islamic people before, so just seeing how they do things, it’s just interesting really. We girls also had to wear a scarf before we were allowed to go in, interesting! I got a chance to see some people praying outside of the mosque, and then one of my classmates kind of rudely told me that I shouldn’t be staring. -_- I WASN’T staring. I was simply fascinated. ANYWAYZ, sorry, I digress. So we saw those 3 religious places. And a few other old places and after we were finished, we were allowed to go get some lunch, then after lunch we went to one of the museums dedicated to the war. My class went in this place, and I’ve never felt a 10 lb weight on my shoulders more. It was like walking into a Holocaust museum. There were newspaper clippings of deaths; there were pictures of the wounded, captions trying to relate their situation to us. It was almost overwhelming. It took me like 45 minutes to go through it, then I just headed outside with the others that had finished before me. Walking out was like that 10 lb weight had been lifted, but it was still a super somber rest of the day. We all waited outside of the museum for chunk of time, but it was pretty nice. It was the warmest weather. 13 degrees C, so way warmer than Denmark has gotten yet =P most of us were not dressed for warm weather like that. Long sleeves. Black. It was just not good. But still o so wonderful. Then after we were finished there, we walked over to this trauma center to interview the workers there. We ended up waiting outside in the heat for about an hour because there was a miscommunication between our group and the people there. The people we needed to talk to were waiting for us in their office while we were waiting outside for them to come to us. ^_^ brilliant I know =D but anyway we got there and we talked to them about what they did and how they helped people. One of the girls in my class translated for the 2 women there. It was pretty interesting from what I picked up with my awesome Danish skills ^_^ afterwards, we left the ladies at about 4 then headed out to do what we wanted with whom we chose. So I went with my friend Mikkel, his roommate, and my other friend Carina. We walked to the city and bought some cake =D and let me tell you, Bosnian people know how to make good cake. We got 4 pieces and shared them around the table. It was great =) then after that we got a chance to shop a little before heading home to get ready for the night out. We all went out together at 7 and we went to this brewery for dinner. It was really good food. Great beef. Very filling =) but not super expensive either, which was nice. The only problem this night was that after dinner we went to a bar together, and neither at the restaurant nor the bar did our bills add up. Yea, we were swindled at the bar by 80 marks, and almost at the restaurant, but we caught it. That was really the only down part to the whole night. But otherwise it was fun =) it was my friend’s 18th birthday, so I know he had a blast =P we got in at about 2 I think, not sure. Then we hit the hay =)
Thursday was our last day in the city =(( we started off with waking up and leaving the hotel at about 9.30 and we headed out with a bus to a little place that was on the outskirts of Sarajevo. It was a ‘museum’ that was dedicated to a tunnel that was built during the war. This tunnel was built in about 4 months and it stretched from the under-siege Sarajevo to the free part of Bosnia. The city was surrounded by Serbian forces and they were trying to evacuate the city from the Bosniac race. They tried expelling them and had them surrounded, but thanks to this tunnel, the people were able to reach the free land and escape and bring weapons back and fight off the Serbians. We actually got to go down into a little section of the tunnel and see what it was like. It was 1.6 m high and 1 meter wide. Just enough for a person to get through and a cart carrying supplies to clear. It was kind of intense to see that. After the museum we headed out again back into the city and went to the middle of the city and saw a memorial for all of the children that died during the war. That was horrible. All of their names were written there and I was with my friend and I just couldn’t stay there for long. We had to leave. It was too heart wrenching. So we walked over to this shopping mall and got some lunch and we had the rest of the day pretty much to ourselves to do what we wanted. Me and my friend mikkel went shopping for HOURS buying new clothes and things for him =D it was great. I picked out some super nice things for him to wear and he bought lots of stuff. And I looked and looked all week for a new pair of shoes, and finally, on our last 30 minutes of shopping before heading to the hotel, we found a pair I liked =D so he was happy and I was happy haha we then made our way back to the hotel where we just relaxed a bit and then got ready for our last night out in Sarajevo. We left the hotel again about 7 and went to eat together at this great traditional Bosnian place. It overlooked the city and at night, that was just gorgeous. To see all the lights. And the food was delicious =) it was like 4 courses 0_0 I thought we were done after 2, but noooooooo haha make room for more! After dinner we went to town =D about half my class and I. it was so much fun. We went to this night club that was just great! We took lots of pictures and just had a super fun time with everyone around us. I love bonding with my class =P we ended up getting home at about 3.15 then another group of my friends came back about 15 minutes later. Then off to shower and pack my suitcase and then SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP =)))
And then it was Friday. Time to go back to Denmark. We left the hotel at 12.30 and went to the airport. We checked in all of our bags and had a little panic =P they were charging 10 euros for every kilo over 20 we went. That’s expensive. So some of us had to rearrange our bags and hold other people’s things. Great fun. Then we went to our gate. Our plane was to leave at 3.05. -_- there was a computer meltdown and so we didn’t end up leaving until 4.15. which meant that we missed our connecting flight in Vienna. Woo. Haha so we were kind of stuck in Vienna for a little while until they found us another flight, leaving at about 8. So we all got to eat and hang out for a little while. And I had an emotional breakdown in the airport =D woo go me! It just hit me all of the sudden how much it hurt to be in an airport and be flying away, and yet NOT going back to the United States. It was really hard actually. I tried to get over it though. Those things happen sometimes. Especially while on exchange. Sadness can overtake from anywhere. But anyway, we got on our plane eventually and landed in the good old Copenhagen airport at almost 10. We got our luggage and I hitched a ride back to town with another friend. After taking a potty break we arrived home at about midnight =/ my host dad came to pick me up, I went home, and passed out. Even though my host brother was having a party and blaring music. I was out cold =D
This was just such an amazing trip. I’m so happy I went. I can’t explain what it was like. To see children as young as 5, dirty and begging for money on the street. To see war-weathered buildings. To nearly get hit by cars because they are such horrible drivers. To see this completely different culture. It was amazing. And actually, I hope to go back someday. Just to visit again. I’m very happy that I didn’t end up going to france or Italy. Sure those places are great, but they are all the same. This, this was COMPLETELY different from anything I’ve ever experienced and anything other danes in my class had. This is something I’ll never forget.
Sorry this post was so long. But so much happened. I have pictures up on my photo site of Bosnia! Please check them out =D thanks for all the support. See you all soon! <3
Kram
Rebekah
Bosnia, along with mostly all of the other Eastern European countries, is just so different from Western Europe. The culture is completely different along with the history behind the country. Now me, I love history and learning about what has happened in the past, so I could go on for PAGES about the history of Bosnia, but since I know that a lot of people think that’s boring, I’ll just be brief. Bosnia used to be a part of the country Yugoslavia. Ring a bell? Right. ok, and after the communist leader Tito died, the country broke out into a giant civil war that lasted about 4 years. The dates were 1992-1995. The war was between Serbs, Croats, and Bosniacs. And long story short, the Serbs were trying to push the Bosniacs out of the main city of Sarajevo, and there was a huge siege there. Ok. After the war ‘finished’ and peace was called, the former Yugoslavia no longer existed. It was now broken into Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Slovenia? I think. I’m not too sure about that last one actually. But you get the picture. The 4 girls in our class immigrated to Denmark from Bosnia with their families during the war. The crazy thing is that this all happened only 15 years ago. ONLY. It just puts a lot of things into perspective I think. But don’t worry, for those of you who are. It is a relatively peaceful and working country now. Relatively.
So now, let me begin with what our tour entailed. We left at approx. 5.33 in the morning from Næstved train station heading to Copenhagen to catch our plane. O wait, did I say 5.33? yea what I meant to say was that summer time had officially begun and it was actually 4.33 to our bodies. My host dad drove me into town, but we got a little confused when our watches read 5.15 and yet the clock on the dashboard read 4.15. we had no idea what the time was! So we had to go into a gas station and ask the guy, and turns out, YEP, that we were an hour early getting into town -_- apparently his cell phone and my cell phone automatically change time, which neither of us knew. So when we set our clocks to wake us up at 3.50 (4.50 in the new time) it actually WAS 3.50. =P so we drove back home and waited then drove back into town at the correct time.
Once we were actually on the train, it was more or less smooth sailing. We got off an hour later in Copenhagen and caught another train headed to the airport. After actually arriving at the airport, most of us were there and began to check in our luggage and get our tickets. Wait, did I just say MOST of us??? Yes, you read correctly. 2 of the girls in my class didn’t see when to get off the train to the airport and were currently in SWEDEN. Don’t worry, eventually they made it back. I think it was like 30 minutes later or something. Way after all of us had checked in. but then! We boarded our plane headed for Vienna, Austria, where we would connect to a flight leading to Sarajevo =)
When we arrived in Vienna we headed straight for our gate, went through security again, tried to check in, and hit another problem. In order to enter Bosnia, a person must be 18 or have parent signatures. Now this wasn’t a problem for me as I’m 18 now, but half of my class is underage. So there was a slight problem, yes? Yes! So my teachers were on the phone with the Bosnian Embassy trying to convince them to let us all in the country. There was a bit of panic for awhile as we didn’t know if the class was going back to Denmark or if only part of us were going to Sarajevo. It was just a super complicated situation. But eventually! We were all allowed to board the plane and head to Sarajevo. We were a little late I think, but no biggie as that was our last stop anyway. So then after we landed in Bosnia, we went through customs and passport security and everything for what felt like the millionth time. Then we ran into another problem. The people under 18 were still not allowed to come into the country! Yea, you read correctly. We thought we had fixed this all back in Vienna, but apparently not. So those of us overage went through and grabbed our bags and waited for maybe 20 minutes for the passport security people to let the rest of our class in. They were back on the phone with the embassy and blah blah blah. You know. I wasn’t in that part, so I only heard about what happened, but one of the Bosnian girls from our class went up and spoke with the people and eventually convinced them to let us in I guess. Awesome =)) finally we were off in Sarajevo!!
We took a bus to our hotel and were all checked in then we just hung around a bit. We went out to dinner and ate some good traditional Bosnian food. =) then me and my friend Mikkel and his roommate walked around the city a bit just exploring. It was great. When it started to get kind of dark out, we headed back to the hotel, and most people just crashed after that. I remember that most of us went to bed around 9-10 because we had had a SUPER long day and we were all tuckered out. I know I hit the sack super early. Like 9.30 maybe. It was earlier than both of my roommates. =P and I’m usually the party animal, ha! ^_^
Monday, after everyone had gotten a good night’s sleep, we started our first day in the city completing our scheduled activities. We were up and out of the hotel by 8 in the morning and headed out to go exchange our money. We first stopped by the post office close to our hotel thinking maybe they could, but we ended up just getting told to go find a bank somewhere. So that’s what we did. We walked a bit of a ways through the ‘old town’ and found our way to this really long street just filled with stores, cafes, and banks. We all exchanged our money into the Bosnian mark (it’s a little weaker than the USD, so it was great to use that kind of money system again!) and then we walked a bit more. We had to walked and catch a train leading to the other side of the city so we could meet some professors at the university and interview them and just have them talk to us about the war and the history and the present. It was super interesting, although the men had heavy accents. It was hard for me to understand them at some points so I can only imagine what it was like for my Danish classmates trying to pay attention. But seriously, all in all, it was so interesting. Two ladies that were children and living in Sarajevo during the war came also and just answered some questions that we had for them about life and such. It was great. We ended up leaving there about 1 and we went across the street to a bit shopping mall and ate lunch. One thing that I learned while me and my friend Mikkel were eating lunch is that in Bosnia, it’s still ok to smoke inside! Like in restaurants and bars. Crazy! Anywayz, after lunch we were supposed to go out into our groups and interview people if that’s what we needed to do for our project. The group I was in didn’t need to do this, but they had left earlier than I, so I just tagged along with another group and talked to some people with them. After that, about 4.30-5, we arrived back at our hotel after taking a taxi, hey we had walked for what seemed like forever. No way were we walking back ^_^ so I got to my room and just crashed for like an hour I think and napped a bit. And then! We all went out for dinner again and then headed to a bar after that to chill out. Even my teachers went and drank. =P it was a bar called “Cheers” but it was really crowded and really smokey. Not long after we got there, maybe an hour at most, me and a group of girls decided to go to another place, so that we did =) we went to a Cuban themed pub. It was very cozy, and we just hung there for a bit talking and laughing and enjoying each other. After that we went to one more place just to see what it was like, then at like 1-1.30 in the morning, we landed back at our hotel. Great night.
The morning waking up and leaving again by 8 was not so great -_- this day we were headed to one of the oldest national parks in Europe. We were supposed to drive one hour to get there, walk three hours, then come home. So our bus picked us up and we headed out. There was a little tour guide there for our amusement on the drive there. He was pretty funny some of the time, but the rest of the time it was just like, come on, we all want to sleep, go away ^_^ o, right, and another thing that he brought to our attention was that it wasn’t in fact only one hour away. It was actually 2 because of the roads. Ok. No problem I guess. THREE HOURS LATER OF WINDING ROADS AND CRAZY BOSNIAN DRIVING, we arrived at the national park. -_- not only we were all exhausted from our night before and exhausted from being cooped up in a bus with no room for three hours, it was actually raining when we got there. Greattttttt. =P our first stop was visiting a big monument dedicated to the 3,000 people who died defending Bosnia (Yugoslavia) against the Germans during WWII. To get there we had to walk up a billion stairs in the rain, but once we got there our tour guide explained what it was about and such. What could have easily been explained in 10 minutes ended up taking what felt like forever because there was one man explaining about the monument and its significance and another man was translating to us. Then we walked a little ways a visited an old bunker also dedicated to these 3,000 people who died. There were murals on the walls of this concrete bunker, really moving pictures some of them. And all of the names of the people were inscribed on the walls. After seeing that, our teachers decided to skip the rest of what we were going to see and we headed back to the bus, piled in, and drove about 30 minutes to the part of a mountain we were going to climb. We eventually all got to the top of this mountain. Through fog and rain and snow and mud and trees. Yea, we all got there eventually ^_^ after that, we headed back down the mountain and piled into the bus and WENT HOME! =D I think we were all excited about that. It was about 5 when we finally arrived home. We were originally supposed to be back at 2, and none of us had eaten since lunch and the little snack we brought we us for the mountain. So we all got cleaned up and went out to dinner with the various groups that we chose =) I went with one of my roommates and 2 of my good guys friends. We ate at this little place. I got pizza. There were a lot of places that sold pizza there. Kind of surprising =P but we ate, then me and my girlfriend went into town and shopped a bit, or tried to, once the boys left us. We found lots of stuff we liked, but nothing we wanted to buy. You understand that feeling, I’m sure =) but we made our way back to the hotel when it started getting dark and cold. Then I’m almost positive we all just stayed in and crashed for the night.
Wednesday was a special day. It was a boy’s 18th birthday in my class. Here in Denmark, 18 is like our sweet 16. People go super crazy. And the fact that he got to celebrate his 18th in a foreign country just made it even crazier! So we all woke up and said ‘tillykke’ to him and then we left our hotel for the rest of the day’s activities at about 9.30. on this day we had a little ‘scavenger hunt’ around the city of Sarajevo in our little groups. We had to find old buildings that were important. We saw a Serbian church, a Croat Catholic cathedral, and we got to go inside of a Bosniac mosque. I was so excited to go to the mosque. Like I had been literally looking forward to it since Monday. I’ve never been inside of one before and I thought it was super interesting. I’ve never encountered many Islamic people before, so just seeing how they do things, it’s just interesting really. We girls also had to wear a scarf before we were allowed to go in, interesting! I got a chance to see some people praying outside of the mosque, and then one of my classmates kind of rudely told me that I shouldn’t be staring. -_- I WASN’T staring. I was simply fascinated. ANYWAYZ, sorry, I digress. So we saw those 3 religious places. And a few other old places and after we were finished, we were allowed to go get some lunch, then after lunch we went to one of the museums dedicated to the war. My class went in this place, and I’ve never felt a 10 lb weight on my shoulders more. It was like walking into a Holocaust museum. There were newspaper clippings of deaths; there were pictures of the wounded, captions trying to relate their situation to us. It was almost overwhelming. It took me like 45 minutes to go through it, then I just headed outside with the others that had finished before me. Walking out was like that 10 lb weight had been lifted, but it was still a super somber rest of the day. We all waited outside of the museum for chunk of time, but it was pretty nice. It was the warmest weather. 13 degrees C, so way warmer than Denmark has gotten yet =P most of us were not dressed for warm weather like that. Long sleeves. Black. It was just not good. But still o so wonderful. Then after we were finished there, we walked over to this trauma center to interview the workers there. We ended up waiting outside in the heat for about an hour because there was a miscommunication between our group and the people there. The people we needed to talk to were waiting for us in their office while we were waiting outside for them to come to us. ^_^ brilliant I know =D but anyway we got there and we talked to them about what they did and how they helped people. One of the girls in my class translated for the 2 women there. It was pretty interesting from what I picked up with my awesome Danish skills ^_^ afterwards, we left the ladies at about 4 then headed out to do what we wanted with whom we chose. So I went with my friend Mikkel, his roommate, and my other friend Carina. We walked to the city and bought some cake =D and let me tell you, Bosnian people know how to make good cake. We got 4 pieces and shared them around the table. It was great =) then after that we got a chance to shop a little before heading home to get ready for the night out. We all went out together at 7 and we went to this brewery for dinner. It was really good food. Great beef. Very filling =) but not super expensive either, which was nice. The only problem this night was that after dinner we went to a bar together, and neither at the restaurant nor the bar did our bills add up. Yea, we were swindled at the bar by 80 marks, and almost at the restaurant, but we caught it. That was really the only down part to the whole night. But otherwise it was fun =) it was my friend’s 18th birthday, so I know he had a blast =P we got in at about 2 I think, not sure. Then we hit the hay =)
Thursday was our last day in the city =(( we started off with waking up and leaving the hotel at about 9.30 and we headed out with a bus to a little place that was on the outskirts of Sarajevo. It was a ‘museum’ that was dedicated to a tunnel that was built during the war. This tunnel was built in about 4 months and it stretched from the under-siege Sarajevo to the free part of Bosnia. The city was surrounded by Serbian forces and they were trying to evacuate the city from the Bosniac race. They tried expelling them and had them surrounded, but thanks to this tunnel, the people were able to reach the free land and escape and bring weapons back and fight off the Serbians. We actually got to go down into a little section of the tunnel and see what it was like. It was 1.6 m high and 1 meter wide. Just enough for a person to get through and a cart carrying supplies to clear. It was kind of intense to see that. After the museum we headed out again back into the city and went to the middle of the city and saw a memorial for all of the children that died during the war. That was horrible. All of their names were written there and I was with my friend and I just couldn’t stay there for long. We had to leave. It was too heart wrenching. So we walked over to this shopping mall and got some lunch and we had the rest of the day pretty much to ourselves to do what we wanted. Me and my friend mikkel went shopping for HOURS buying new clothes and things for him =D it was great. I picked out some super nice things for him to wear and he bought lots of stuff. And I looked and looked all week for a new pair of shoes, and finally, on our last 30 minutes of shopping before heading to the hotel, we found a pair I liked =D so he was happy and I was happy haha we then made our way back to the hotel where we just relaxed a bit and then got ready for our last night out in Sarajevo. We left the hotel again about 7 and went to eat together at this great traditional Bosnian place. It overlooked the city and at night, that was just gorgeous. To see all the lights. And the food was delicious =) it was like 4 courses 0_0 I thought we were done after 2, but noooooooo haha make room for more! After dinner we went to town =D about half my class and I. it was so much fun. We went to this night club that was just great! We took lots of pictures and just had a super fun time with everyone around us. I love bonding with my class =P we ended up getting home at about 3.15 then another group of my friends came back about 15 minutes later. Then off to shower and pack my suitcase and then SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP =)))
And then it was Friday. Time to go back to Denmark. We left the hotel at 12.30 and went to the airport. We checked in all of our bags and had a little panic =P they were charging 10 euros for every kilo over 20 we went. That’s expensive. So some of us had to rearrange our bags and hold other people’s things. Great fun. Then we went to our gate. Our plane was to leave at 3.05. -_- there was a computer meltdown and so we didn’t end up leaving until 4.15. which meant that we missed our connecting flight in Vienna. Woo. Haha so we were kind of stuck in Vienna for a little while until they found us another flight, leaving at about 8. So we all got to eat and hang out for a little while. And I had an emotional breakdown in the airport =D woo go me! It just hit me all of the sudden how much it hurt to be in an airport and be flying away, and yet NOT going back to the United States. It was really hard actually. I tried to get over it though. Those things happen sometimes. Especially while on exchange. Sadness can overtake from anywhere. But anyway, we got on our plane eventually and landed in the good old Copenhagen airport at almost 10. We got our luggage and I hitched a ride back to town with another friend. After taking a potty break we arrived home at about midnight =/ my host dad came to pick me up, I went home, and passed out. Even though my host brother was having a party and blaring music. I was out cold =D
This was just such an amazing trip. I’m so happy I went. I can’t explain what it was like. To see children as young as 5, dirty and begging for money on the street. To see war-weathered buildings. To nearly get hit by cars because they are such horrible drivers. To see this completely different culture. It was amazing. And actually, I hope to go back someday. Just to visit again. I’m very happy that I didn’t end up going to france or Italy. Sure those places are great, but they are all the same. This, this was COMPLETELY different from anything I’ve ever experienced and anything other danes in my class had. This is something I’ll never forget.
Sorry this post was so long. But so much happened. I have pictures up on my photo site of Bosnia! Please check them out =D thanks for all the support. See you all soon! <3
Kram
Rebekah
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Hot Chocolate...Anyone?
Hi I’m back!!! O my goodness this past week was just amazing. I celebrated my 7th month in Denmark, and this week was just the best way to celebrate it =D I must start from the beginning!!!!
On Monday I went to school like any other day. We had a special project week this week of school, so it’s pretty much extra boring. But o well. After school I had to go to my rotary meeting. The first one I’d been to in a month. Yea. Woo! ^_^ I was actually pretty excited to go to this one because it wasn’t an ordinary meeting. We met up with 3-4 other clubs and had dinner. And each of those clubs brought their exchange student with them! =) so after dinner while the ‘adults’ talked, we all just went back into a room together and hung out and talked. Our assistant district chair was with us, so we were supervised =P but Claus is one of the coolest people ever, so we had no problems. We (the 5 ‘oldie’ exchange students) got to meet the 2 ‘newbie’ exchange students. One from Australia and one from South America. Both are nice girls. =) it was nice to just talk to some other kids about how their time is going and things like that. I love being with the other exchange students. We understand each other on a completely different level really. And we click almost instantly…also! I got my allowance for the month of March AND February!! Yea, my club didn’t give me my Feb. allowance, so I was a terribly poor student in that month, but then I got TWO MONTHS’ at one time =O it’s great =D Monday was just a great way to start the week!
Then Tuesday (March 1st, my 7th month anniversary in DK) came around. It was same old, same old at school. But afterwards I got to go into town with one of the girls in my class =) we walked around for a few hours just talking, it was so nice. This was the first time she and I had actually had a conversation like that. Like we’re friendly enough in class, but we’d never done anything like that together. So it was super nice. She’s one of the sweetest girls. All of the girls in my class are just like angels really ^_^ but we walked around and then decided it would be nice to thaw our frozen bodies out in a café =P we walked to one of my favorite places and got some nice hot chocolate. It was so hyggeligt man! I haven’t had a lot of one-on-one girl time with anyone who isn’t an exchange student. I’ve probably said this before, but just to say it again, I usually get along better and faster with guys. I’m just that type of person. So where I’ve lacked in girlfriends here, I think I’ve made up with guy friends. I don’t think that’s a bad thing; it’s just the way it is =) but anywayz! It was super nice to have some girl time with her. We talked about some good things and I think it helped us to be more comfortable around each other. It’s nice to know I’ve got a friend in her…THAT! Was my Tuesday =)
On Wednesday it was pretty much the same as Tuesday, quite literally actually. ^_^ school. Blah blah. Haha but after school I went out to a café again! Yea I know! You need to know the ‘back story’ for this. A few weeks ago I went to my host dad’s business school to give a presentation about USA, right? Right. well after that day, I had gotten some ‘friend’ requests on facebook, which was totally awesome, right? Right. haha so! I started talking with one of these people and so we decided to meet finally. I waited at the bus station for him after school on Wednesday (this whole week I got off at 1.30, which is why I was able to do this) and then we set out walking together to the café. The same café I went to with my friend, Amalie, the day before ^_^ so he was a super nice guy. We talked a lot about Denmark and my exchange, and we talked about his life and stuff. You know, small talk =) he seemed really easy to talk to, which is a GREAT thing when talking to a virtual stranger you only met one time. Haha we also had a really hyggeligt time together, just talking. I love making new friends, like for real. This was nice =)
Thursday. Wow. What happened Thursday? =P well I got to spend the lunch break with my good friend René. That was actually the first time we’d seen each other and talked to each other in a few weeks. We had gotten into sort of a fight awhile ago and we were just taking some time apart. Which I think was for the best, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t miss talking to him and seeing him. I mean, he was my best friend in all of Denmark. But! We got to spend lunch together, and that was super great =) it was like we had never been a part in the first place. Don’t you love people like that? Where it seems you click with them just instantly and it just feels natural to be around them. It’s a great feeling really. So lunch was good =) then after school guess what I did. YOU GUESSED IT! I went to ANOTHER café -_- yea, I’m getting really fat over here guys. ^_^ I really hope I’m not, but you get the point. A café 3 times in one week is just not good. But it felt soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo right! =P I met another guy that I had talked to on facebook from my host dad’s school. We just basically did what I’d done with the others, we talked. =P you would think that after doing that 2 days in a row I’d be tired of it, but nope =P I’m always good to go! And I think it was almost easier after doing it so much, because then I could just repeat questions and answers ^_^ sorry, I cheat. Haha then I headed to the store after that to pick up some things to cook with for dinner on Friday.
Fridayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy = WEEKEND! =D everyone, no matter what country you live it, loves the weekend. Don’t deny it. I am definitely no exception to this rule. Haha so since it was Friday, of course I was already in a good mood. And because I’d had such a good week, I was in a great mood. But I was in an awesome mood because I got to hang out with another person after school on Friday =D wow, I hung out with people 5 days out of the 5 school days. I’m such a winner! =D ^_^ but anywayz, so I met my ‘new’ friend Casper after school on Friday. Casper is the guy I met at a party a few weeks ago. The little one who is like 2-3 inches taller than me. Yea! Haha he’s great really. So we met up after school, grabbed his bike, and walked to his house like 30 minutes away maybe? He said it’s like 8 minutes by bike, so I’m assuming it’s a bit longer just walking =P but we went to his house and I met his mom; his sister was also home, but I didn’t get a chance to meet her. This is probably a great time to admit to everyone out in the world that I’m terrified of parents and families. Whether we’re girlfriends or dating, I really am. ^_^ but it wasn’t that bad! So good. Haha we just went and watched a movie and ‘hygged’ some more. It was really a lot of fun. A great way to end my week actually. I was just really sad when I had to leave. I had to torture myself and my family by cooking that night. We’re going to hang out again soon I hope. =) isn’t it funny how life works sometimes? You go to one party with one friend and you walk out with 3 new ones =P I love it.
Saturday and Sunday were the laziest days I’ve had in awhile. Me and maria just literally stayed in the house all day both days and hung out and watched some movies together. It was really nice, don’t get me wrong. I love spending time with my little sister. But I just felt like a waste of life ^_^ I don’t know if I want to do that again. But after the long week I had it was nice to just sit around in my pajamas and be lazy. =) I made maria a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the first time ever. She liked it she said =) so that’s good. Haha wow I’m really going to miss her when I move. =’( she’s literally like my real little sister. We’ve gotten way too close it feels like. Sometimes I tell her more than I tell my other friends. And I definitely act ‘normal’ around her. That’s a scary thought. Hahahah no one needs to see that side of me ^_^ I’m going to miss her that’s all <3
So that was my week =D in a nutshell. This week is going well, I’ll let you know later what’s what. On Sunday I move to my 3rd and final host family! Woo! I do NOT want to pack all of my junk up, but I’m excited to live with them. They are a really nice family =) so I’ll let you know how it’s going with them. I’m really going to miss my family now though. Like, I might actually cry guys. Not cool. I don’t like this feeling. Imagine when I really leave Denmark. I might die. Yea. I’m just going to sit down and die. That would be way easier than breaking off chunks of my heart. =’( agh! No I’m not thinking about that right now. =) happy thoughts. i will talk to you all later. I love and miss you all! Thanks for the support. Thanks for the love. See you soon =D
Kram,
Rebekah
On Monday I went to school like any other day. We had a special project week this week of school, so it’s pretty much extra boring. But o well. After school I had to go to my rotary meeting. The first one I’d been to in a month. Yea. Woo! ^_^ I was actually pretty excited to go to this one because it wasn’t an ordinary meeting. We met up with 3-4 other clubs and had dinner. And each of those clubs brought their exchange student with them! =) so after dinner while the ‘adults’ talked, we all just went back into a room together and hung out and talked. Our assistant district chair was with us, so we were supervised =P but Claus is one of the coolest people ever, so we had no problems. We (the 5 ‘oldie’ exchange students) got to meet the 2 ‘newbie’ exchange students. One from Australia and one from South America. Both are nice girls. =) it was nice to just talk to some other kids about how their time is going and things like that. I love being with the other exchange students. We understand each other on a completely different level really. And we click almost instantly…also! I got my allowance for the month of March AND February!! Yea, my club didn’t give me my Feb. allowance, so I was a terribly poor student in that month, but then I got TWO MONTHS’ at one time =O it’s great =D Monday was just a great way to start the week!
Then Tuesday (March 1st, my 7th month anniversary in DK) came around. It was same old, same old at school. But afterwards I got to go into town with one of the girls in my class =) we walked around for a few hours just talking, it was so nice. This was the first time she and I had actually had a conversation like that. Like we’re friendly enough in class, but we’d never done anything like that together. So it was super nice. She’s one of the sweetest girls. All of the girls in my class are just like angels really ^_^ but we walked around and then decided it would be nice to thaw our frozen bodies out in a café =P we walked to one of my favorite places and got some nice hot chocolate. It was so hyggeligt man! I haven’t had a lot of one-on-one girl time with anyone who isn’t an exchange student. I’ve probably said this before, but just to say it again, I usually get along better and faster with guys. I’m just that type of person. So where I’ve lacked in girlfriends here, I think I’ve made up with guy friends. I don’t think that’s a bad thing; it’s just the way it is =) but anywayz! It was super nice to have some girl time with her. We talked about some good things and I think it helped us to be more comfortable around each other. It’s nice to know I’ve got a friend in her…THAT! Was my Tuesday =)
On Wednesday it was pretty much the same as Tuesday, quite literally actually. ^_^ school. Blah blah. Haha but after school I went out to a café again! Yea I know! You need to know the ‘back story’ for this. A few weeks ago I went to my host dad’s business school to give a presentation about USA, right? Right. well after that day, I had gotten some ‘friend’ requests on facebook, which was totally awesome, right? Right. haha so! I started talking with one of these people and so we decided to meet finally. I waited at the bus station for him after school on Wednesday (this whole week I got off at 1.30, which is why I was able to do this) and then we set out walking together to the café. The same café I went to with my friend, Amalie, the day before ^_^ so he was a super nice guy. We talked a lot about Denmark and my exchange, and we talked about his life and stuff. You know, small talk =) he seemed really easy to talk to, which is a GREAT thing when talking to a virtual stranger you only met one time. Haha we also had a really hyggeligt time together, just talking. I love making new friends, like for real. This was nice =)
Thursday. Wow. What happened Thursday? =P well I got to spend the lunch break with my good friend René. That was actually the first time we’d seen each other and talked to each other in a few weeks. We had gotten into sort of a fight awhile ago and we were just taking some time apart. Which I think was for the best, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t miss talking to him and seeing him. I mean, he was my best friend in all of Denmark. But! We got to spend lunch together, and that was super great =) it was like we had never been a part in the first place. Don’t you love people like that? Where it seems you click with them just instantly and it just feels natural to be around them. It’s a great feeling really. So lunch was good =) then after school guess what I did. YOU GUESSED IT! I went to ANOTHER café -_- yea, I’m getting really fat over here guys. ^_^ I really hope I’m not, but you get the point. A café 3 times in one week is just not good. But it felt soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo right! =P I met another guy that I had talked to on facebook from my host dad’s school. We just basically did what I’d done with the others, we talked. =P you would think that after doing that 2 days in a row I’d be tired of it, but nope =P I’m always good to go! And I think it was almost easier after doing it so much, because then I could just repeat questions and answers ^_^ sorry, I cheat. Haha then I headed to the store after that to pick up some things to cook with for dinner on Friday.
Fridayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy = WEEKEND! =D everyone, no matter what country you live it, loves the weekend. Don’t deny it. I am definitely no exception to this rule. Haha so since it was Friday, of course I was already in a good mood. And because I’d had such a good week, I was in a great mood. But I was in an awesome mood because I got to hang out with another person after school on Friday =D wow, I hung out with people 5 days out of the 5 school days. I’m such a winner! =D ^_^ but anywayz, so I met my ‘new’ friend Casper after school on Friday. Casper is the guy I met at a party a few weeks ago. The little one who is like 2-3 inches taller than me. Yea! Haha he’s great really. So we met up after school, grabbed his bike, and walked to his house like 30 minutes away maybe? He said it’s like 8 minutes by bike, so I’m assuming it’s a bit longer just walking =P but we went to his house and I met his mom; his sister was also home, but I didn’t get a chance to meet her. This is probably a great time to admit to everyone out in the world that I’m terrified of parents and families. Whether we’re girlfriends or dating, I really am. ^_^ but it wasn’t that bad! So good. Haha we just went and watched a movie and ‘hygged’ some more. It was really a lot of fun. A great way to end my week actually. I was just really sad when I had to leave. I had to torture myself and my family by cooking that night. We’re going to hang out again soon I hope. =) isn’t it funny how life works sometimes? You go to one party with one friend and you walk out with 3 new ones =P I love it.
Saturday and Sunday were the laziest days I’ve had in awhile. Me and maria just literally stayed in the house all day both days and hung out and watched some movies together. It was really nice, don’t get me wrong. I love spending time with my little sister. But I just felt like a waste of life ^_^ I don’t know if I want to do that again. But after the long week I had it was nice to just sit around in my pajamas and be lazy. =) I made maria a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the first time ever. She liked it she said =) so that’s good. Haha wow I’m really going to miss her when I move. =’( she’s literally like my real little sister. We’ve gotten way too close it feels like. Sometimes I tell her more than I tell my other friends. And I definitely act ‘normal’ around her. That’s a scary thought. Hahahah no one needs to see that side of me ^_^ I’m going to miss her that’s all <3
So that was my week =D in a nutshell. This week is going well, I’ll let you know later what’s what. On Sunday I move to my 3rd and final host family! Woo! I do NOT want to pack all of my junk up, but I’m excited to live with them. They are a really nice family =) so I’ll let you know how it’s going with them. I’m really going to miss my family now though. Like, I might actually cry guys. Not cool. I don’t like this feeling. Imagine when I really leave Denmark. I might die. Yea. I’m just going to sit down and die. That would be way easier than breaking off chunks of my heart. =’( agh! No I’m not thinking about that right now. =) happy thoughts. i will talk to you all later. I love and miss you all! Thanks for the support. Thanks for the love. See you soon =D
Kram,
Rebekah
Sunday, February 27, 2011
A Time to Love, and a Time to Hate
Welcome back to the crazy adventure of my life in Danish-land =D I’m glad you’ve returned. Let me tell you a little about what’s been going on this past week! Prepare yourselves.
Monday was the first day back from winter break. I had to wake up at 6 am again -_- and go to school all day. Yea, what a way to return from a vacation. It was a bad way to start the week, really. I always have gym class my first class on Mondays, and we played BASKETBALL. So much fun to be had! No. I hate basketball with a passion. Yes, I played for like 4 years, but I still hate it. Unfortunately I didn’t have a choice of whether or not to participate in gym class. So I just didn’t try very hard. Forget it. The rest of Monday was just really tiring. And boring. If I haven’t told you lately that Danish school could literally kill a person from boredom, well there you go. It’s the truth. I’m actually really surprised I haven’t keeled over yet from lack of stimulation in my brain. It’s not really my fault, either. I don’t really think it’s just because I’m an exchange student and can’t understand. I think it’s just the way it’s set up. 1½ hour long classes, with a five minute break half way is just not cutting it. I personally think that a teacher loses half of the class past the hour mark. It’s a terribly long time for just one class. And the thing is, I don’t feel like they learn or teach anymore in 1½ hours than we do in our 45-55 minute classes back home. Gr face. I just don’t like it. But I have to go every day. And it really gets tiring after awhile….ok, end of my rant. Sorry =P
Tuesday was a lot like Monday. Except I got off early that day at 1.30 =) I can’t exactly remember what I did on Tuesday. But I don’t think it was that important. Like nothing terribly exciting =P o well! If I remember, I’ll let you know ;) ………o! I remember now!!! Something did happen. It was rather funny. Ok, well first of all, I think I should let you all know, that me and that one friend that I was fighting with a few weeks ago, well, we’re talking again now. Not like we used to at all, but we are working on it. And that makes me really happy. I didn’t screw everything up, and this is fixable. We just need some time. Well that’s something that happened on Tuesday. I saw this friend for the first time in 2 weeks and hand a passing-by “hi”. It’s really the strangest feeling in the world to just walk by someone that used to mean so much to your life. It’s hard to just accept a “hello” when normally we would have stopped to hug and talk. It’s weird to see how far apart we’ve been torn…anywayz, no more of THAT topic. Another thing that happened was that me and Steph had lunch together. =) I saw her on Monday for the first time in a week and it felt really nice. I missed her tons. So we had lunch again on Tuesday. While we were eating I was telling her about this person that I met at a party a few days ago and I told her how I haven’t seen him in person since. And she said it would be just my luck that I see him when I look a mess. =P well, SPEAK OF THE DEVIL AND HE SHALL APPEAR! Yes -_- this guy I met at the party, the little one! Like 5’3”, walked by just minutes after that. I acted like a spaz of course. And it was awfully awkward, but I lived =P we’re still talking now, so I didn’t screw it up too badly in that ‘first meeting’. ^_^ I just think it’s funny how those things always happen to me. I have horrible luck, people. I’m not sure if you’re aware =P
Ok, Wednesday. Wednesday was…horrible. Sometimes, you have days on exchange that you’re just unable to deal with. Days where you’d rather be anywhere else. Days that leave you feeling with that “why did I come here?” thought. Wednesday was this day for me. It started off badly with a boring class in the morning. And I wasn’t the only one that thought it was a bad class, everyone else did too. We watched a documentary about a guy. For 1½ hours. BORING. And then my best friends in my class were acting very distant that day. I can always tell how the day will be depending on the first class. If they are really sociable in the first class, then my class will talk to me all day. But if some people are distant, then it’s going to be a struggle to get them to talk the rest of the day. It’s ok really, I’ve learned how to deal with this. But on Wednesday I just wasn’t able to. My second class was just as boring, but a little better. Some people talked to me then. And then there was lunch! Steph came over and said hi and we talked for a little bit and I told her I was having a bad day. We decided to skip my last class of the day and head to her house early. (we were already planning on going to her house, but the skipping early part was new) and then I headed to my date with doom in my third class of the day. Have you ever noticed how some people are put in your life to make it a living hell? Well I’ve noticed this. And I’ve never had to deal with a person like this until I came to Denmark. There is a person in my class that gets some kind of sick pleasure out of tormenting me. And I don’t understand it. It’s not the Danish humor, it’s just plain mean and bullying. Well in my 3rd class this person decided it would be a lot of fun to make fun of me and tease me, and guys, I have a really thick skin. But he was purposely trying to humiliate me in front of my whole class! He acts like a child, but yet he expects me to treat him right when he can do nothing right by me. I try to make it look like it doesn’t bother me, but I sat in the back of my class on Wednesday in near tears because of it. I’ve never had to deal with a person who purposely tried to hurt me before. I’d never hurt someone on purpose. But like I said, he gets some kind of sick pleasure from it I guess. WELL! A few friends tried to cheer me up, but all I really wanted was to skip out. And that I did. As soon as class was over Stephanie and I hooked up and walked to her house. (she moved into town!! And super close to the mall! Lucky) I got to meet her new family =) they are very sweet. Then she and I headed to McDonalds to eat. I hadn’t eaten there in like 4 months, so I was craving pretty badly. But of course, in normal McD’s fashion, I felt disgusting afterwards =P then we headed to the mall because I had to buy a cake for my Spanish class in the morning. (I didn’t have my books covered on time, and in true Danish fashion, the penalty was cake haha) so we bought the cake then headed back to stephanie’s house and my host dad picked us both up and we headed to a basketball game! It was a lot of fun. My team won, so that’s always a great thing. And it was just a good time to relax and unwind from the bad day. It started off horrible. But it ended great. I stayed up until like 1 in the morning talking to a friend ;) so I really can’t complain after that.
Thursday I had volleyball. What a work out! It’s funny how not playing for just 2 weeks can really ruin everything. But it felt nice. It always feels nice to play and work out. After that I just went home and ate dinner and crashed. I was so beat and exhausted.
Friday was just another day =) I had to go to Maria’s school (my little host sister) and give a presentation about USA to her 7th grade class. Yay! Haha yea, not really. But I’m more than happy to do it. The thing that I didn’t like was that I had made plans with a friend for lunch, and then I had to bail unexpectedly. Not cool. I felt really bad. But there are always more plans to be had! So I went to her class. And you can definitely tell the age of these kids by their actions. Dear Lord, I never want to be 13 again. If I was like that when I was 13, I’m terribly sorry =P crazy kids. I tell ya. But it was fun all in all…that night I was a cool kid and stayed home =P staying home, on a Friday night, with the ‘rents, watching tv. Wow, I am a cool kid hahaha.
Saturday I made plans with Stephanie to go to another basketball game =) but here’s the catch! A group of girls in my class invited me to dinner that night. Then my best guy friend from my class invited me to a party at his house that night! CRAZY!!!! It’s like, when I don’t have plans already, nothing comes up. But the one night I have plans with my best friend, EVERYONE and their brother wants to freaking hang out! So inconvenient =(( so me and steph went to the basketball game. Then I went to the dinner, which was a toga party (well, pretty much) by the way, and then I went back to sleep at steph’s house. We opted to not go to the party at my friend’s house, even though it would have been nice. It was just not possible. But I had a nice dinner with the girls in my class. It was greek themed. So we all had to wear the white greek-ish dressed. Like a toga pretty much. And we ate some greek-ish food. And danced and “hygged” together. It was so nice. I don’t know if I’ve said this lately, but I love the girls in my class to death. They are some of the sweetest girls. I’m not ‘best friends’ with some of them, but we all still get along so well. I’m going to miss them so much when I leave. I just know part of me is going to die =’( I’m not looking forward to that. So since I’m not looking forward to it, how about we just not talk about it =) I left the house at like 9 at night and caught a bus to stephanie’s house. It was good. We had a good night together. We stayed up and read and watched a movie, but we both passed about before midnight. We’re so hardcore =P I love us.
And now, today is Sunday! Just a relaxing day. O, I got a package from home the other day, and I got some candy and the movie ‘the time traveler’s wife’. This is a great movie. I sobbed when I saw it in theaters. I might watch that today while I eat my candy. Haha but other than that, I have nothing going on. O, also, stephanie’s new host mom is a hair dresser. And she permed steph’s hair today and gave mine a clip and some style =D it’s great. I love it! Anywayz, haha I’m going to go now. Sorry this was so long, but I guess a lot happened this week. Love you guys. I come home in about 3½ months maybe. I’m looking at the middle of june. Keep writing to me. Send your love. O, and check out my photo-site for pictures of my greek night =D love you all! http://ayearindenmark.shutterfly.com/
Kram,
Rebekah <3
Monday was the first day back from winter break. I had to wake up at 6 am again -_- and go to school all day. Yea, what a way to return from a vacation. It was a bad way to start the week, really. I always have gym class my first class on Mondays, and we played BASKETBALL. So much fun to be had! No. I hate basketball with a passion. Yes, I played for like 4 years, but I still hate it. Unfortunately I didn’t have a choice of whether or not to participate in gym class. So I just didn’t try very hard. Forget it. The rest of Monday was just really tiring. And boring. If I haven’t told you lately that Danish school could literally kill a person from boredom, well there you go. It’s the truth. I’m actually really surprised I haven’t keeled over yet from lack of stimulation in my brain. It’s not really my fault, either. I don’t really think it’s just because I’m an exchange student and can’t understand. I think it’s just the way it’s set up. 1½ hour long classes, with a five minute break half way is just not cutting it. I personally think that a teacher loses half of the class past the hour mark. It’s a terribly long time for just one class. And the thing is, I don’t feel like they learn or teach anymore in 1½ hours than we do in our 45-55 minute classes back home. Gr face. I just don’t like it. But I have to go every day. And it really gets tiring after awhile….ok, end of my rant. Sorry =P
Tuesday was a lot like Monday. Except I got off early that day at 1.30 =) I can’t exactly remember what I did on Tuesday. But I don’t think it was that important. Like nothing terribly exciting =P o well! If I remember, I’ll let you know ;) ………o! I remember now!!! Something did happen. It was rather funny. Ok, well first of all, I think I should let you all know, that me and that one friend that I was fighting with a few weeks ago, well, we’re talking again now. Not like we used to at all, but we are working on it. And that makes me really happy. I didn’t screw everything up, and this is fixable. We just need some time. Well that’s something that happened on Tuesday. I saw this friend for the first time in 2 weeks and hand a passing-by “hi”. It’s really the strangest feeling in the world to just walk by someone that used to mean so much to your life. It’s hard to just accept a “hello” when normally we would have stopped to hug and talk. It’s weird to see how far apart we’ve been torn…anywayz, no more of THAT topic. Another thing that happened was that me and Steph had lunch together. =) I saw her on Monday for the first time in a week and it felt really nice. I missed her tons. So we had lunch again on Tuesday. While we were eating I was telling her about this person that I met at a party a few days ago and I told her how I haven’t seen him in person since. And she said it would be just my luck that I see him when I look a mess. =P well, SPEAK OF THE DEVIL AND HE SHALL APPEAR! Yes -_- this guy I met at the party, the little one! Like 5’3”, walked by just minutes after that. I acted like a spaz of course. And it was awfully awkward, but I lived =P we’re still talking now, so I didn’t screw it up too badly in that ‘first meeting’. ^_^ I just think it’s funny how those things always happen to me. I have horrible luck, people. I’m not sure if you’re aware =P
Ok, Wednesday. Wednesday was…horrible. Sometimes, you have days on exchange that you’re just unable to deal with. Days where you’d rather be anywhere else. Days that leave you feeling with that “why did I come here?” thought. Wednesday was this day for me. It started off badly with a boring class in the morning. And I wasn’t the only one that thought it was a bad class, everyone else did too. We watched a documentary about a guy. For 1½ hours. BORING. And then my best friends in my class were acting very distant that day. I can always tell how the day will be depending on the first class. If they are really sociable in the first class, then my class will talk to me all day. But if some people are distant, then it’s going to be a struggle to get them to talk the rest of the day. It’s ok really, I’ve learned how to deal with this. But on Wednesday I just wasn’t able to. My second class was just as boring, but a little better. Some people talked to me then. And then there was lunch! Steph came over and said hi and we talked for a little bit and I told her I was having a bad day. We decided to skip my last class of the day and head to her house early. (we were already planning on going to her house, but the skipping early part was new) and then I headed to my date with doom in my third class of the day. Have you ever noticed how some people are put in your life to make it a living hell? Well I’ve noticed this. And I’ve never had to deal with a person like this until I came to Denmark. There is a person in my class that gets some kind of sick pleasure out of tormenting me. And I don’t understand it. It’s not the Danish humor, it’s just plain mean and bullying. Well in my 3rd class this person decided it would be a lot of fun to make fun of me and tease me, and guys, I have a really thick skin. But he was purposely trying to humiliate me in front of my whole class! He acts like a child, but yet he expects me to treat him right when he can do nothing right by me. I try to make it look like it doesn’t bother me, but I sat in the back of my class on Wednesday in near tears because of it. I’ve never had to deal with a person who purposely tried to hurt me before. I’d never hurt someone on purpose. But like I said, he gets some kind of sick pleasure from it I guess. WELL! A few friends tried to cheer me up, but all I really wanted was to skip out. And that I did. As soon as class was over Stephanie and I hooked up and walked to her house. (she moved into town!! And super close to the mall! Lucky) I got to meet her new family =) they are very sweet. Then she and I headed to McDonalds to eat. I hadn’t eaten there in like 4 months, so I was craving pretty badly. But of course, in normal McD’s fashion, I felt disgusting afterwards =P then we headed to the mall because I had to buy a cake for my Spanish class in the morning. (I didn’t have my books covered on time, and in true Danish fashion, the penalty was cake haha) so we bought the cake then headed back to stephanie’s house and my host dad picked us both up and we headed to a basketball game! It was a lot of fun. My team won, so that’s always a great thing. And it was just a good time to relax and unwind from the bad day. It started off horrible. But it ended great. I stayed up until like 1 in the morning talking to a friend ;) so I really can’t complain after that.
Thursday I had volleyball. What a work out! It’s funny how not playing for just 2 weeks can really ruin everything. But it felt nice. It always feels nice to play and work out. After that I just went home and ate dinner and crashed. I was so beat and exhausted.
Friday was just another day =) I had to go to Maria’s school (my little host sister) and give a presentation about USA to her 7th grade class. Yay! Haha yea, not really. But I’m more than happy to do it. The thing that I didn’t like was that I had made plans with a friend for lunch, and then I had to bail unexpectedly. Not cool. I felt really bad. But there are always more plans to be had! So I went to her class. And you can definitely tell the age of these kids by their actions. Dear Lord, I never want to be 13 again. If I was like that when I was 13, I’m terribly sorry =P crazy kids. I tell ya. But it was fun all in all…that night I was a cool kid and stayed home =P staying home, on a Friday night, with the ‘rents, watching tv. Wow, I am a cool kid hahaha.
Saturday I made plans with Stephanie to go to another basketball game =) but here’s the catch! A group of girls in my class invited me to dinner that night. Then my best guy friend from my class invited me to a party at his house that night! CRAZY!!!! It’s like, when I don’t have plans already, nothing comes up. But the one night I have plans with my best friend, EVERYONE and their brother wants to freaking hang out! So inconvenient =(( so me and steph went to the basketball game. Then I went to the dinner, which was a toga party (well, pretty much) by the way, and then I went back to sleep at steph’s house. We opted to not go to the party at my friend’s house, even though it would have been nice. It was just not possible. But I had a nice dinner with the girls in my class. It was greek themed. So we all had to wear the white greek-ish dressed. Like a toga pretty much. And we ate some greek-ish food. And danced and “hygged” together. It was so nice. I don’t know if I’ve said this lately, but I love the girls in my class to death. They are some of the sweetest girls. I’m not ‘best friends’ with some of them, but we all still get along so well. I’m going to miss them so much when I leave. I just know part of me is going to die =’( I’m not looking forward to that. So since I’m not looking forward to it, how about we just not talk about it =) I left the house at like 9 at night and caught a bus to stephanie’s house. It was good. We had a good night together. We stayed up and read and watched a movie, but we both passed about before midnight. We’re so hardcore =P I love us.
And now, today is Sunday! Just a relaxing day. O, I got a package from home the other day, and I got some candy and the movie ‘the time traveler’s wife’. This is a great movie. I sobbed when I saw it in theaters. I might watch that today while I eat my candy. Haha but other than that, I have nothing going on. O, also, stephanie’s new host mom is a hair dresser. And she permed steph’s hair today and gave mine a clip and some style =D it’s great. I love it! Anywayz, haha I’m going to go now. Sorry this was so long, but I guess a lot happened this week. Love you guys. I come home in about 3½ months maybe. I’m looking at the middle of june. Keep writing to me. Send your love. O, and check out my photo-site for pictures of my greek night =D love you all! http://ayearindenmark.shutterfly.com/
Kram,
Rebekah <3
Monday, February 21, 2011
Winter Break...Houston, We Have a Probelm
This past week was winter break =D it’s been an awesome week really. It was so nice to be free from school for a little while. Very relaxing. So let me tell you what I’ve been up to =D
On Monday, I hung out with my classmate, Phillip. We were planning on working out together (I’ve really got to lose this flub-thing) so we planned on working out outside because I didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for the gym =P so I took the bus into town. Problem. we both realized that it was FREEZING outside. Not the best for anything. So we ditched the whole working out plan and just went back to his house for a bit to hang. Now people, don’t get any funny ideas. He’s my friend and he’s got a girlfriend ^_^ but it was fun to talk a lot. And after awhile we decided to just go into town because he had some errands to run, so we got all that done =) then I headed home about 5 I think? I don’t remember. But this was the start of my excellent vacation!
On Tuesday I met with one of our 2 ‘newbies’. She’s from Costa Rica, and her name is Alex. She is such a sweet girl. I met her at the school then we walked to town and enjoyed a nice hot chocolate together =D we did a lot of talking. Just about my experiences so far and how she’s doing in her first weeks here. Great stuff really. So then after we finished our hot chocolate I decided to take her to the mall since she hadn’t been there yet. So we hopped on the bus and off we went! We did some shopping at my favorite store H&M. I didn’t find anything that fit me right or that I liked. But alex bought a skirt and shirt. She’s just the sweetest girl. I feel like a big sister in a way because I was her just a few months ago, you know? But anywayz, I hope to be hanging out with her some more soon. After the mall I took her back to the school so she wouldn’t get lost. Problem. I got us on the wrong bus, so we had to jump off really fast and run to catch the right bus. Haha so much for trying to not get her lost =P then I headed home =)
Wednesday! I had plans for Wednesday to go into town with some friends =) so that I did! We planned to go to one of the clubs in Næstved that was having one of their special parties for 16+ kids. Normally you need to be 18 to get in, but since it was during the winter break it was a special thing. So I had to hop on the bus at night to head into town. I do NOT relish taking the busses at night. Freakiest thing in the world. I mean, I know I’m safe and all, but still, I’m a young lady alone, things spook me. But I made it to town safely =) the only problem was that I had to wait at the bus station alone for a little bit while my friends came to get me. SCARIEST THING EVER. I was outside, alone, freezing my butt off. And there were sporadic groups of people that I was sure were going to jump me at any time =P but hey, I eventually made it safely to the club with my friends. It was a good night. We danced and had a lot of fun. I met some new people which is always a good thing. O, and I called the bartender sexy…in hindsight, I think that was still a great choice =P so then the end of my night came at around 2 because that’s when my host dad was coming to pick me up. So I went out to the front of the club to retrieve my checked coat. Problem. I didn’t have my check in number. Somehow during the night, my number must have fallen out of my little bag that I had with me. So I was in trouble. No number, no coat. Yea. Guys, I am an idiot. I think I’ve proven this one before =P so I had to walk out of the club with no winter coat and explain to my host dad what happened. I said I’ll just have to come back tomorrow to get it.
So I stayed in all morning on Thursday and then I looked online to see when I could get my coat. Problem. It said I can only get my coat when the club was open. Which is every Friday and Saturday at 11 at night. Wow. So I had to wait ANOTHER day to get my WINTER coat. I could freeze to death!!! So yea, I stayed inside all day Thursday and hung out, watched some movies. It was a cozy day.
On Friday I had to go into town to buy some food to make dinner. Problem. Didn’t have my winter coat yet, so I put on my thickest hoodie and braved the cold winter air. Haha it wasn’t too bad, but it was definitely cold. So I went to the store and the library. I actually went to the library first and THEN the store, but you know, it doesn’t really matter. I got 4 new books =D and I made some amazing macaroni and cheese that night. Like to die for mac ‘n’ cheese. I’m amazing, what can I say =D haha just kidding. So then that night me and my host dad headed out to get my coat back at 11 at night. I was able to successfully retrieve it! =D so that made me really happy.
On Saturday I was just planning to stay home again and relax. But at about 8 at night I got a text from one of my friends asking when we were going to town tonight..wait, what? We’re going to town tonight?? Yea, I had no clue what was going on, so we talked a little and he thought that he had already talked to me about going to town, and so then I decided that I really wanted to go out. I hate admitting it, but I’m not often invited out to such things, so I don’t want to pass up any opportunity that’s given to me. So I went down stairs and asked my host parents if it was ok that I go out that night. Problem. They could neither take me to town (I live 30 minutes away by bus, 15 by car), nor could they pick me up later. But we managed to compromise that if I could sleep at a friend’s house then it was ok. So I told my friend and we found a place for me to sleep the night =) then I got ready and headed into town by bus, alone and cold, at 10.30 at night. Scary scary scary. ^_^ it wasn’t that bad this time around because my friend Jonas arrived a few minutes after I did and we got on a bus and headed out. He decided that we were going to go to his friend’s private party instead of going to town. That was ok with me =) I met a bunch of people that night and had a lot of fun. I just love being social with Danish people. O and I met this boy, and he’s MY SIZE!!! Like literally my size! The most adorable guy ever! Seriously, cute.as.a.button! hahaha I should explain, it’s not often I find anyone, boy or girl, in my size in Denmark. Here they are all pretty much giants. =P not even joking about that one. For a guy, 6 ft is average, maybe even a little below average. And for a girl the average is at least 5 ft 8. I’m super small here. And some people love pointing it out ^_^ but anywayz, yea haha great night. Great party. I went home with a friend and stayed at their house for the night. I think we got in sometime after 4? No idea. I just went to bed right away and slept =P I woke up at noon and got on a bus and headed home the next day =D
And now, school has started again -_- yea, great. I will be posting soon on how things are going here. With friends. With family. With school. With Danish. So stay tuned my faithful readers =D thanks for everything! Questions are always welcome <3
Knus og kys,
Rebekah
On Monday, I hung out with my classmate, Phillip. We were planning on working out together (I’ve really got to lose this flub-thing) so we planned on working out outside because I didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for the gym =P so I took the bus into town. Problem. we both realized that it was FREEZING outside. Not the best for anything. So we ditched the whole working out plan and just went back to his house for a bit to hang. Now people, don’t get any funny ideas. He’s my friend and he’s got a girlfriend ^_^ but it was fun to talk a lot. And after awhile we decided to just go into town because he had some errands to run, so we got all that done =) then I headed home about 5 I think? I don’t remember. But this was the start of my excellent vacation!
On Tuesday I met with one of our 2 ‘newbies’. She’s from Costa Rica, and her name is Alex. She is such a sweet girl. I met her at the school then we walked to town and enjoyed a nice hot chocolate together =D we did a lot of talking. Just about my experiences so far and how she’s doing in her first weeks here. Great stuff really. So then after we finished our hot chocolate I decided to take her to the mall since she hadn’t been there yet. So we hopped on the bus and off we went! We did some shopping at my favorite store H&M. I didn’t find anything that fit me right or that I liked. But alex bought a skirt and shirt. She’s just the sweetest girl. I feel like a big sister in a way because I was her just a few months ago, you know? But anywayz, I hope to be hanging out with her some more soon. After the mall I took her back to the school so she wouldn’t get lost. Problem. I got us on the wrong bus, so we had to jump off really fast and run to catch the right bus. Haha so much for trying to not get her lost =P then I headed home =)
Wednesday! I had plans for Wednesday to go into town with some friends =) so that I did! We planned to go to one of the clubs in Næstved that was having one of their special parties for 16+ kids. Normally you need to be 18 to get in, but since it was during the winter break it was a special thing. So I had to hop on the bus at night to head into town. I do NOT relish taking the busses at night. Freakiest thing in the world. I mean, I know I’m safe and all, but still, I’m a young lady alone, things spook me. But I made it to town safely =) the only problem was that I had to wait at the bus station alone for a little bit while my friends came to get me. SCARIEST THING EVER. I was outside, alone, freezing my butt off. And there were sporadic groups of people that I was sure were going to jump me at any time =P but hey, I eventually made it safely to the club with my friends. It was a good night. We danced and had a lot of fun. I met some new people which is always a good thing. O, and I called the bartender sexy…in hindsight, I think that was still a great choice =P so then the end of my night came at around 2 because that’s when my host dad was coming to pick me up. So I went out to the front of the club to retrieve my checked coat. Problem. I didn’t have my check in number. Somehow during the night, my number must have fallen out of my little bag that I had with me. So I was in trouble. No number, no coat. Yea. Guys, I am an idiot. I think I’ve proven this one before =P so I had to walk out of the club with no winter coat and explain to my host dad what happened. I said I’ll just have to come back tomorrow to get it.
So I stayed in all morning on Thursday and then I looked online to see when I could get my coat. Problem. It said I can only get my coat when the club was open. Which is every Friday and Saturday at 11 at night. Wow. So I had to wait ANOTHER day to get my WINTER coat. I could freeze to death!!! So yea, I stayed inside all day Thursday and hung out, watched some movies. It was a cozy day.
On Friday I had to go into town to buy some food to make dinner. Problem. Didn’t have my winter coat yet, so I put on my thickest hoodie and braved the cold winter air. Haha it wasn’t too bad, but it was definitely cold. So I went to the store and the library. I actually went to the library first and THEN the store, but you know, it doesn’t really matter. I got 4 new books =D and I made some amazing macaroni and cheese that night. Like to die for mac ‘n’ cheese. I’m amazing, what can I say =D haha just kidding. So then that night me and my host dad headed out to get my coat back at 11 at night. I was able to successfully retrieve it! =D so that made me really happy.
On Saturday I was just planning to stay home again and relax. But at about 8 at night I got a text from one of my friends asking when we were going to town tonight..wait, what? We’re going to town tonight?? Yea, I had no clue what was going on, so we talked a little and he thought that he had already talked to me about going to town, and so then I decided that I really wanted to go out. I hate admitting it, but I’m not often invited out to such things, so I don’t want to pass up any opportunity that’s given to me. So I went down stairs and asked my host parents if it was ok that I go out that night. Problem. They could neither take me to town (I live 30 minutes away by bus, 15 by car), nor could they pick me up later. But we managed to compromise that if I could sleep at a friend’s house then it was ok. So I told my friend and we found a place for me to sleep the night =) then I got ready and headed into town by bus, alone and cold, at 10.30 at night. Scary scary scary. ^_^ it wasn’t that bad this time around because my friend Jonas arrived a few minutes after I did and we got on a bus and headed out. He decided that we were going to go to his friend’s private party instead of going to town. That was ok with me =) I met a bunch of people that night and had a lot of fun. I just love being social with Danish people. O and I met this boy, and he’s MY SIZE!!! Like literally my size! The most adorable guy ever! Seriously, cute.as.a.button! hahaha I should explain, it’s not often I find anyone, boy or girl, in my size in Denmark. Here they are all pretty much giants. =P not even joking about that one. For a guy, 6 ft is average, maybe even a little below average. And for a girl the average is at least 5 ft 8. I’m super small here. And some people love pointing it out ^_^ but anywayz, yea haha great night. Great party. I went home with a friend and stayed at their house for the night. I think we got in sometime after 4? No idea. I just went to bed right away and slept =P I woke up at noon and got on a bus and headed home the next day =D
And now, school has started again -_- yea, great. I will be posting soon on how things are going here. With friends. With family. With school. With Danish. So stay tuned my faithful readers =D thanks for everything! Questions are always welcome <3
Knus og kys,
Rebekah
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
I FORGOT MY BEST FRIEND!!!
wow i really am dumb! i forgot to tell you all about something great that happened!
the week of the school party, you know? yea. well on that thursday was chinese new years! and stephanie is part asian so she celebrates this and wanted me to come over that night. so i came over to her house after my volleyball games. her parents had to pick me up because the bus drivers went on strike =O yea, i didn't know they could do that either! but anywayz, so i went to steph's house, and she graciously let me nap for like an hour. and then she woke me up before she had to go down stairs so start making the food. !!! o yea, i forgot to mention that she was cooking traditional chinese food for us all that night =D 2 of her classmates came over too. she made coconut and warm bananas 'soup'? and rice soup. and fried rice and pork. and flan for dessert! my little girl is growing up! haha yes, it all tasted just great! i was really proud of her. no one got food poisoning from undercooked pork =P i was pretty worried about this. her friends went how at about 9? i think? maybe...and anywayz, then i went and showered. steph told me that it would take awhile for the water to warm up...right, that's cool. except for the fact that it WAS FREEZING THE ENTIRE TIME!! yes, her house has no hot water. it was less than amazing. steph is not having a party with it either i hear haha but then after that horrid experience, i went back to her room and finished my super huge assigment for school that the scary teacher was all making us write. it was 5-7 pages and the subject depended on the class. mine was global warming and how amazing al gore is...great. i am not a fan of al gore by the way, so you can imagine how fun that paper was to write! but i had worked on most of it the rest of the week and i was so proud of myself! i only left a few paragraphs to finish up taht night before i turned it in the next day =D so i finished that up pretty fast and gave the computer back to steph, believe it or not, she had only begun her assigment THAT DAY =OO she had been pretty ill the past week+ yea, and her project was a lot less fun than mine. ew. so i promised her that i'd stay up with her while she finished. well the clock struck 2 and i begged her to let me sleep hahaha. i woke up the next morning and she had just finished. needless to say, steph stayed home that friday. i went to school in the pouring rain just so i could turn the this darn assigment! i saw no point in actually doing it. pretty upset about that one actually.. >=( but it's water under the bridge. i also had a doozy of a time actually locating my file that i saved too. it was great. lots of panic. lots of stress. i'm not even getting graded for this, people!!!!!!!!!!!! wow, it's like high school all over again. ugh. haha but that night was the party, so it was good =D
and now that i've told you about that important detail that i forgot, i will go now =D
Rebekah
the week of the school party, you know? yea. well on that thursday was chinese new years! and stephanie is part asian so she celebrates this and wanted me to come over that night. so i came over to her house after my volleyball games. her parents had to pick me up because the bus drivers went on strike =O yea, i didn't know they could do that either! but anywayz, so i went to steph's house, and she graciously let me nap for like an hour. and then she woke me up before she had to go down stairs so start making the food. !!! o yea, i forgot to mention that she was cooking traditional chinese food for us all that night =D 2 of her classmates came over too. she made coconut and warm bananas 'soup'? and rice soup. and fried rice and pork. and flan for dessert! my little girl is growing up! haha yes, it all tasted just great! i was really proud of her. no one got food poisoning from undercooked pork =P i was pretty worried about this. her friends went how at about 9? i think? maybe...and anywayz, then i went and showered. steph told me that it would take awhile for the water to warm up...right, that's cool. except for the fact that it WAS FREEZING THE ENTIRE TIME!! yes, her house has no hot water. it was less than amazing. steph is not having a party with it either i hear haha but then after that horrid experience, i went back to her room and finished my super huge assigment for school that the scary teacher was all making us write. it was 5-7 pages and the subject depended on the class. mine was global warming and how amazing al gore is...great. i am not a fan of al gore by the way, so you can imagine how fun that paper was to write! but i had worked on most of it the rest of the week and i was so proud of myself! i only left a few paragraphs to finish up taht night before i turned it in the next day =D so i finished that up pretty fast and gave the computer back to steph, believe it or not, she had only begun her assigment THAT DAY =OO she had been pretty ill the past week+ yea, and her project was a lot less fun than mine. ew. so i promised her that i'd stay up with her while she finished. well the clock struck 2 and i begged her to let me sleep hahaha. i woke up the next morning and she had just finished. needless to say, steph stayed home that friday. i went to school in the pouring rain just so i could turn the this darn assigment! i saw no point in actually doing it. pretty upset about that one actually.. >=( but it's water under the bridge. i also had a doozy of a time actually locating my file that i saved too. it was great. lots of panic. lots of stress. i'm not even getting graded for this, people!!!!!!!!!!!! wow, it's like high school all over again. ugh. haha but that night was the party, so it was good =D
and now that i've told you about that important detail that i forgot, i will go now =D
Rebekah
Oh, By the Way...
So i know it’s been a few weeks, again. My bad! Haha but here it goes. Catch up, AGAIN!
So the week after my last post, I had a really good week. I went to Rotary and had a nice conversation with my first host dad in Danish. I think that was the most we’ve ever felt comfortable enough saying to each other. So it was kind of weird. I wish we had talked like that when I actually lived there, but better late than never, right? =) so then the rest of the week kid of flew by pretty much. That weekend, the last weekend in January, I had my 18th birthday party, finally! =) see, I couldn’t have it during the month of December because it was just way too busy, so I decided to wait. I had some girls from my class over and Stephanie. The other exchange girls couldn’t come because the girl from France was having a special dinner which they were invited to as well. So they went to the dinner and I had my close classmates over. It was really nice. We were 6 in all because a few called at the last minute and said they were sick. =( but it was still really fun. We ate pancakes with ice cream and watched some movies. Very hyggelig guys! And that was the end of my week =D o, I should also mention how dumb of a person I am…yea. I really am, and if you know me, you’ll agree! I say this because of this: my parents have been telling me for awhile now that I need to buy some knee pads if I’m going to continue to play volleyball at the school. So knowing that a game was coming up the following week, I went into town on Friday and found some in the second sports store I checked and bought them. They were pretty cheap too, so I was really happy =) after that, I had to go to the supermarket to buy some things so I could make dinner that night. I picked up the foods I needed and went and checked out. Now, here in denmark you have to bag your own things at stores that aren’t department stores. So I was bagging up my groceries and I picked them up and I noticed a white bag sitting on the counter. I literally thought this to myself “aw, some poor sucker forgot their bag. I shouldn’t look into it, it would be rude.” And I left the store… -_- yes, I think you can all see where this is going! That night as me and my family were watching a handball match and here is my exact line of thought: I was thinking that it must really hurt to fall on their knees so much. They should really wear some knee pads. I’m so happy I bought some knee pads today at the store. Jee, I wonder where I put them? O.MY.GOODNESS I LEFT THEM AT THE STORE!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I did it. That ‘poor sucker’ was me. Needless to say, I felt like junk the rest of the night. My only option that I settled on was to go back to the store on Monday and ask if they found them. And then Saturday my girlfriends came over =)
The next week was also very good. I was looking forward to the big school party on Friday all week! So I got through all of school, which was hard, and made it =) I started off my week by going to that store on Monday and seeing if they found my knee pads. I just had this horrible feeling the whole day that they wouldn’t have them and I’d be out good money. So I went in and stood in line and asked the lady, in danish mind you, if anyone had found my bag. She then proceded to lay it on the counter! I’ve never been so happy in my life! Like seriously. After I left the store I walked over to my bus stop and literally made it just in time. Monday was the best day ever. Epic wins on so many levels =D the rest of the week is rather dull compared to that though haha on Thursday I had my first, and probably only, volleyball game with Næstved Gym. We were exactly 6 girls and we went with our boys’ team and played at this tournament at another school in the city. It was so much fun. I love playing volleyball <3 we played against 4 teams. And all of them but one were very inexperienced. We beat all of them except that one team. I would love a rematch! And then Friday rolled around! Finally!!!!!! Fiday school was blah, but then Friday night, the school came alive. We all met up at my one friend’s house and ate some pizza before taking a taxi to the school. There was some famous dj that was playing for us I guess? No idea. His name is morten breum. Look him up if you want. But it was just a killer party. Same as the last school party: everyone was completely hammered. I’ve been in denmark for 6 months now, part of you gets used to this, but the other part is still like ‘and the school is really ok with this?’ =P I’m so american. But anywayz, all in all, it was a super fun time. I had fun with all my friends <3
The week after that was really boring. On Monday I didn’t go to school because I gave a presentation about USA at my host dad’s school. It went well. I hadn’t even left the school yet and I was receiving facebook requests. That means they liked me, right? =P on Tuesday I had only one class at school, and in all honesty, I should have just skipped. That was such a bad day of school. I hadn’t had one like that in awhile. Just a horrible day. Ugh! I hate thinking about it. But it was. The day after that though, that was a just plain awesome day. It evened out all the junk that had happened the day before. I had some really great conversations with a few friends and, I don’t know, it just felt like an amazing day. It was one of those days where it hit me of how happy I am in denmark. I was riding the bus to school and just looking out the window thinking about life and I was thinking about all the junk I should fix in my life and how happy I was to live here. Really, Wednesday was an awesome day. I need more of those =D nothing on Thursday happened. But on Friday I had an absolute horrible day again. I don’t want to go into details, but me and one of my good friends had an argument at the party on the last Friday, and it was all just coming to a head on this Friday. It really was all my fault, I instigated it all. But it still felt horrible. We decided we weren’t going to see each other for a bit to ‘cool down’ and ‘get over’ what happened. =( yea that was really hard to hear, but it’s gotta happen. I hope that I didn’t screw everything up and ruin a 6 month growing friendship in just a matter of hours. And then another friend decided to bail on going to town with me for an hour or so. And then I was almost stranded at the bus station after coming back into town that night…so yea, like I said, Friday was bad =P but Friday night was good! Well, I mean, AFTER I was able to be picked up from the bus station by poliana’s nice host gpa. I had forgotten to bring money with me to take the bus to another girl’s house because I don’t need money to get from my house to the city, I just show a card. So I was scared and tempted to beg for money for a bit, but then I got picked up! So it was good =D so! me and the other exchange girls from the school got together and linda’s house. Linda is from germany. Steph couldn’t come to this one because she left for the week to go to london. And one of the 2 new girls we got couldn’t come because no one knew how to reach her to invite her =P so it was 6 of us! Ruby- new zealand, Apolline- france, Linda- germany, Poliana- brazil, me, and Beckie- new girl from new zealand. It was tons of fun. I love those girls with my whole heart. Going to miss them so much =’( I made some amazing homemade brownies for this night. And by amazing, I mean AH-mazing. Haha and we just hung out and ‘hygged’ and watched some movies. It was great. We are planning to do more of those. =D
And now, this week, I have no school because it is winter break =D I am missing my best friend stephanie because she is in london this week with her mom. I hope she’s having fun. I will be posting a new blog post about all the things I do this week later =) so this one is so long =P lots to say! Questions and comments people. You know I’ll answer you <3 and keep up with my shutterfly site if you’re not on facebook. http://ayearindenmark.shutterfly.com/ Lots of fun things to see there =D
Much love!
Rebekah
So the week after my last post, I had a really good week. I went to Rotary and had a nice conversation with my first host dad in Danish. I think that was the most we’ve ever felt comfortable enough saying to each other. So it was kind of weird. I wish we had talked like that when I actually lived there, but better late than never, right? =) so then the rest of the week kid of flew by pretty much. That weekend, the last weekend in January, I had my 18th birthday party, finally! =) see, I couldn’t have it during the month of December because it was just way too busy, so I decided to wait. I had some girls from my class over and Stephanie. The other exchange girls couldn’t come because the girl from France was having a special dinner which they were invited to as well. So they went to the dinner and I had my close classmates over. It was really nice. We were 6 in all because a few called at the last minute and said they were sick. =( but it was still really fun. We ate pancakes with ice cream and watched some movies. Very hyggelig guys! And that was the end of my week =D o, I should also mention how dumb of a person I am…yea. I really am, and if you know me, you’ll agree! I say this because of this: my parents have been telling me for awhile now that I need to buy some knee pads if I’m going to continue to play volleyball at the school. So knowing that a game was coming up the following week, I went into town on Friday and found some in the second sports store I checked and bought them. They were pretty cheap too, so I was really happy =) after that, I had to go to the supermarket to buy some things so I could make dinner that night. I picked up the foods I needed and went and checked out. Now, here in denmark you have to bag your own things at stores that aren’t department stores. So I was bagging up my groceries and I picked them up and I noticed a white bag sitting on the counter. I literally thought this to myself “aw, some poor sucker forgot their bag. I shouldn’t look into it, it would be rude.” And I left the store… -_- yes, I think you can all see where this is going! That night as me and my family were watching a handball match and here is my exact line of thought: I was thinking that it must really hurt to fall on their knees so much. They should really wear some knee pads. I’m so happy I bought some knee pads today at the store. Jee, I wonder where I put them? O.MY.GOODNESS I LEFT THEM AT THE STORE!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I did it. That ‘poor sucker’ was me. Needless to say, I felt like junk the rest of the night. My only option that I settled on was to go back to the store on Monday and ask if they found them. And then Saturday my girlfriends came over =)
The next week was also very good. I was looking forward to the big school party on Friday all week! So I got through all of school, which was hard, and made it =) I started off my week by going to that store on Monday and seeing if they found my knee pads. I just had this horrible feeling the whole day that they wouldn’t have them and I’d be out good money. So I went in and stood in line and asked the lady, in danish mind you, if anyone had found my bag. She then proceded to lay it on the counter! I’ve never been so happy in my life! Like seriously. After I left the store I walked over to my bus stop and literally made it just in time. Monday was the best day ever. Epic wins on so many levels =D the rest of the week is rather dull compared to that though haha on Thursday I had my first, and probably only, volleyball game with Næstved Gym. We were exactly 6 girls and we went with our boys’ team and played at this tournament at another school in the city. It was so much fun. I love playing volleyball <3 we played against 4 teams. And all of them but one were very inexperienced. We beat all of them except that one team. I would love a rematch! And then Friday rolled around! Finally!!!!!! Fiday school was blah, but then Friday night, the school came alive. We all met up at my one friend’s house and ate some pizza before taking a taxi to the school. There was some famous dj that was playing for us I guess? No idea. His name is morten breum. Look him up if you want. But it was just a killer party. Same as the last school party: everyone was completely hammered. I’ve been in denmark for 6 months now, part of you gets used to this, but the other part is still like ‘and the school is really ok with this?’ =P I’m so american. But anywayz, all in all, it was a super fun time. I had fun with all my friends <3
The week after that was really boring. On Monday I didn’t go to school because I gave a presentation about USA at my host dad’s school. It went well. I hadn’t even left the school yet and I was receiving facebook requests. That means they liked me, right? =P on Tuesday I had only one class at school, and in all honesty, I should have just skipped. That was such a bad day of school. I hadn’t had one like that in awhile. Just a horrible day. Ugh! I hate thinking about it. But it was. The day after that though, that was a just plain awesome day. It evened out all the junk that had happened the day before. I had some really great conversations with a few friends and, I don’t know, it just felt like an amazing day. It was one of those days where it hit me of how happy I am in denmark. I was riding the bus to school and just looking out the window thinking about life and I was thinking about all the junk I should fix in my life and how happy I was to live here. Really, Wednesday was an awesome day. I need more of those =D nothing on Thursday happened. But on Friday I had an absolute horrible day again. I don’t want to go into details, but me and one of my good friends had an argument at the party on the last Friday, and it was all just coming to a head on this Friday. It really was all my fault, I instigated it all. But it still felt horrible. We decided we weren’t going to see each other for a bit to ‘cool down’ and ‘get over’ what happened. =( yea that was really hard to hear, but it’s gotta happen. I hope that I didn’t screw everything up and ruin a 6 month growing friendship in just a matter of hours. And then another friend decided to bail on going to town with me for an hour or so. And then I was almost stranded at the bus station after coming back into town that night…so yea, like I said, Friday was bad =P but Friday night was good! Well, I mean, AFTER I was able to be picked up from the bus station by poliana’s nice host gpa. I had forgotten to bring money with me to take the bus to another girl’s house because I don’t need money to get from my house to the city, I just show a card. So I was scared and tempted to beg for money for a bit, but then I got picked up! So it was good =D so! me and the other exchange girls from the school got together and linda’s house. Linda is from germany. Steph couldn’t come to this one because she left for the week to go to london. And one of the 2 new girls we got couldn’t come because no one knew how to reach her to invite her =P so it was 6 of us! Ruby- new zealand, Apolline- france, Linda- germany, Poliana- brazil, me, and Beckie- new girl from new zealand. It was tons of fun. I love those girls with my whole heart. Going to miss them so much =’( I made some amazing homemade brownies for this night. And by amazing, I mean AH-mazing. Haha and we just hung out and ‘hygged’ and watched some movies. It was great. We are planning to do more of those. =D
And now, this week, I have no school because it is winter break =D I am missing my best friend stephanie because she is in london this week with her mom. I hope she’s having fun. I will be posting a new blog post about all the things I do this week later =) so this one is so long =P lots to say! Questions and comments people. You know I’ll answer you <3 and keep up with my shutterfly site if you’re not on facebook. http://ayearindenmark.shutterfly.com/ Lots of fun things to see there =D
Much love!
Rebekah
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Strawberry Fields
=) welcome back to my adventures in the lands of Danes!
So like I said, last week went down pretty much how I said it would. Rotary meeting on Monday, volleyball on Tuesday and Thursday. I did not, unfortunately get to hang out with René, but I think maybe I’ll get over that.
Last week was also murderous in regards to school. I went a FULL day every day last week except for Tuesday when I had a late start. Horrible. =P Danish school is, in my opinion, just BLAH. There really isn’t much I can say about it that I haven’t already said. It’s boring with a capital B. I feel bad for my class, actually. Apparently Danish schools are known for their group work, and they are split off into groups for nearly every single assignment. I find this rather silly. I don’t think it’s more productive. You just talk and don’t do the assignment half of the time. So this is why I feel sorry for my class. See, the groups I get paired with are an equal number with the other groups, but they are playing a man down so to speak. It’s like playing a game of baseball and one of the players has no arms. That player can stand there and look nice and all, but when it comes time to play, they are pretty useless. Yea, that’s me! Haha another thing I really don’t like is the fact that we may only have a max of 4 classes a day, but those classes are 1½ hours long with maybe only a 5 minute break sometimes. I don’t feel like the class gets more done than a normal 55 minute class would back home. I just think they go about it slower, and the fact that the group work takes up some time also adds up. But it’s their system, and they think it works for them. In the long run, I will never complain about a 55 minute class again. ^_^ but I’ve have 3 hour long classes at the college before, so this isn’t new to me. It’s just that I have nothing to do but listen to music or read in most of the classes that’s different. Not so fun anymore. =/ --END RANT
Rotary is going just like it always does: slowly. Haha hey, I love my rotary club. They are some super nice people. And they love having me here, I hope. We can speak together in almost fluent Danish. But mind you, it’s fluent Danish on about a child’s level =P BUT! Danish nonetheless. I’m completely satisfied with that.
Tuesday was volleyball. The first practice back after the Christmas break. And o, was it horrible. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve played THAT horribly. A long time. I guess I just need to get back onto the horse, as they say. Anyway! Haha so Wednesday was just school. Blah. Nothing fun happened that I can recall. Then Thursday I had volleyball practice again. I played better this time around, so I went home feeling not like a failure =P that’s always nice. I was completely sore all last week though from practice. It hurt to walk down the stairs. And that’s not good when you have to go up and down the stairs for EVERY class. But I tried to suck it up and take it like a man. Haha we are going to have a game soon I think. That’s so exciting! I can’t wait. I just need to find some knee pads, cuz man, my knees are torn to shreds. Bruises everywhere. Not so fun. But at least it’s winter and I’m not very concerned with how my legs look right now =P Friday was a good day. Fridays are always good, I mean, it’s FRIDAY! We always get out early on Fridays, so that’s another reason it’s so great. So on Friday I was going to hang out with René, but plans changed when he got a surprise job the day before. No joke, he said they went on a class trip to this place, he talked to some people, they liked him, and then on Friday was his ‘test run’. These people move fast. ^_^ so it sucked that we didn’t get to hang, but no biggie. =)
O, I forgot to mention, but on Thursday night, my host mom’s brother and his son came to visit us from the Farroe Islands. (long story, but they are some islands that Denmark owns, and are a plane ride away, and there is really nothing out there, and they don’t speak Danish, they have their own language, but they are owned by Denmark. So it’s kind of like Greenland, but WAY smaller) ANYWAYZ, so they came for a visit because there was a conference in town and they were going to that, so they stopped here for the weekend and stayed with us. Wow. So they came on Thursday and stayed until Sunday morning. Did I mention I thought the son was cute? Yea, he was! So on Thursday when they came and we ate together I was secretly eyeing him at the table, what 18 year old girl WOULDN’T do that? ^_^ but then it got late, so I went to bed. And on Friday I got up before them all to catch my bus like always. 6.30 in the morning. -_- but that’s not important. When I got home Friday, it was just me and maria for awhile, so I told her I thought he was cute. She said she used to think so too when she was younger, but then she found out he was her cousin’s husband… =O WHAT?!?!?!? That’s right ladies and gentlemen. I had mistaken the son-IN-LAW for the actual son. He’s married, he’s almost 30, and he’s got 3 kids. Wow. I sure can choose them huh. ^_^ please don’t judge me, how was I supposed to know! Haha it’s actually pretty funny. =P needless to say, Friday and Saturday were spent trying to figure out how someone who looks like they’re 19 could actually be 28. Mind blowing.
On Saturday I went with a family from my club to their son’s “boarding school”. (this is the same family I went to see Mamma Mia with in Copenhagen.) at this school they have a musical every year, and so they asked if I would like to come along with them and see it. Of course I said yes. This family has been so nice to me, I knew it would be fun. So we went. The school is about an hour away, so not too bad. The musical was called ‘Strawberry Fields’, and it was laced with Beatles’ music. I couldn’t tell you what the actual plot of the play was, the acting wasn’t that good, but the music was done very well =) they played somewhere from 10-20 Beatle’s songs, including ‘revolution’ ‘blackbird’ ‘strawberry fields’ and ‘hey jude’, and they sounded great. They have some real musical talent there. It was fun =) we had some cake and coffee during the break (what do you call it? I can’t remember…INTERMISSION! Maybe???) så det var meget dejligt! (it was very delightful)
After that I just came home and spent a late night with the family. Always fun =) maria and I have such a great time together. She’s the best little sister ever. I love how we’ve become like real sisters. I’m going to miss her so much. But I’m already planning for her to come see me in the US.
Sunday was relax day! Love it. I laid around the house all day. What a great way to end the weekend =)
I’m going to blog about this week soon! Some fun stuff is coming up that y’all should know about =DDD please keep reading. Keep praying. And for pete’s sake, write me some snail mail people! Show me the love! Haha just cuz I’m over here doesn’t mean I’ve dropped off the face of the earth. If you love me, or care about me in any way, if you’re my friend, I expect a letter from you soon. <3 message me for the address!
Love you all. Keep posted on my shutterfly account. There are tons of cool photos and some funny videos. I’ll be adding more soon. So for those of you without a facebook, I hope you’re checking =) http://ayearindenmark.shutterfly.com/
Take care! Rebekah
So like I said, last week went down pretty much how I said it would. Rotary meeting on Monday, volleyball on Tuesday and Thursday. I did not, unfortunately get to hang out with René, but I think maybe I’ll get over that.
Last week was also murderous in regards to school. I went a FULL day every day last week except for Tuesday when I had a late start. Horrible. =P Danish school is, in my opinion, just BLAH. There really isn’t much I can say about it that I haven’t already said. It’s boring with a capital B. I feel bad for my class, actually. Apparently Danish schools are known for their group work, and they are split off into groups for nearly every single assignment. I find this rather silly. I don’t think it’s more productive. You just talk and don’t do the assignment half of the time. So this is why I feel sorry for my class. See, the groups I get paired with are an equal number with the other groups, but they are playing a man down so to speak. It’s like playing a game of baseball and one of the players has no arms. That player can stand there and look nice and all, but when it comes time to play, they are pretty useless. Yea, that’s me! Haha another thing I really don’t like is the fact that we may only have a max of 4 classes a day, but those classes are 1½ hours long with maybe only a 5 minute break sometimes. I don’t feel like the class gets more done than a normal 55 minute class would back home. I just think they go about it slower, and the fact that the group work takes up some time also adds up. But it’s their system, and they think it works for them. In the long run, I will never complain about a 55 minute class again. ^_^ but I’ve have 3 hour long classes at the college before, so this isn’t new to me. It’s just that I have nothing to do but listen to music or read in most of the classes that’s different. Not so fun anymore. =/ --END RANT
Rotary is going just like it always does: slowly. Haha hey, I love my rotary club. They are some super nice people. And they love having me here, I hope. We can speak together in almost fluent Danish. But mind you, it’s fluent Danish on about a child’s level =P BUT! Danish nonetheless. I’m completely satisfied with that.
Tuesday was volleyball. The first practice back after the Christmas break. And o, was it horrible. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve played THAT horribly. A long time. I guess I just need to get back onto the horse, as they say. Anyway! Haha so Wednesday was just school. Blah. Nothing fun happened that I can recall. Then Thursday I had volleyball practice again. I played better this time around, so I went home feeling not like a failure =P that’s always nice. I was completely sore all last week though from practice. It hurt to walk down the stairs. And that’s not good when you have to go up and down the stairs for EVERY class. But I tried to suck it up and take it like a man. Haha we are going to have a game soon I think. That’s so exciting! I can’t wait. I just need to find some knee pads, cuz man, my knees are torn to shreds. Bruises everywhere. Not so fun. But at least it’s winter and I’m not very concerned with how my legs look right now =P Friday was a good day. Fridays are always good, I mean, it’s FRIDAY! We always get out early on Fridays, so that’s another reason it’s so great. So on Friday I was going to hang out with René, but plans changed when he got a surprise job the day before. No joke, he said they went on a class trip to this place, he talked to some people, they liked him, and then on Friday was his ‘test run’. These people move fast. ^_^ so it sucked that we didn’t get to hang, but no biggie. =)
O, I forgot to mention, but on Thursday night, my host mom’s brother and his son came to visit us from the Farroe Islands. (long story, but they are some islands that Denmark owns, and are a plane ride away, and there is really nothing out there, and they don’t speak Danish, they have their own language, but they are owned by Denmark. So it’s kind of like Greenland, but WAY smaller) ANYWAYZ, so they came for a visit because there was a conference in town and they were going to that, so they stopped here for the weekend and stayed with us. Wow. So they came on Thursday and stayed until Sunday morning. Did I mention I thought the son was cute? Yea, he was! So on Thursday when they came and we ate together I was secretly eyeing him at the table, what 18 year old girl WOULDN’T do that? ^_^ but then it got late, so I went to bed. And on Friday I got up before them all to catch my bus like always. 6.30 in the morning. -_- but that’s not important. When I got home Friday, it was just me and maria for awhile, so I told her I thought he was cute. She said she used to think so too when she was younger, but then she found out he was her cousin’s husband… =O WHAT?!?!?!? That’s right ladies and gentlemen. I had mistaken the son-IN-LAW for the actual son. He’s married, he’s almost 30, and he’s got 3 kids. Wow. I sure can choose them huh. ^_^ please don’t judge me, how was I supposed to know! Haha it’s actually pretty funny. =P needless to say, Friday and Saturday were spent trying to figure out how someone who looks like they’re 19 could actually be 28. Mind blowing.
On Saturday I went with a family from my club to their son’s “boarding school”. (this is the same family I went to see Mamma Mia with in Copenhagen.) at this school they have a musical every year, and so they asked if I would like to come along with them and see it. Of course I said yes. This family has been so nice to me, I knew it would be fun. So we went. The school is about an hour away, so not too bad. The musical was called ‘Strawberry Fields’, and it was laced with Beatles’ music. I couldn’t tell you what the actual plot of the play was, the acting wasn’t that good, but the music was done very well =) they played somewhere from 10-20 Beatle’s songs, including ‘revolution’ ‘blackbird’ ‘strawberry fields’ and ‘hey jude’, and they sounded great. They have some real musical talent there. It was fun =) we had some cake and coffee during the break (what do you call it? I can’t remember…INTERMISSION! Maybe???) så det var meget dejligt! (it was very delightful)
After that I just came home and spent a late night with the family. Always fun =) maria and I have such a great time together. She’s the best little sister ever. I love how we’ve become like real sisters. I’m going to miss her so much. But I’m already planning for her to come see me in the US.
Sunday was relax day! Love it. I laid around the house all day. What a great way to end the weekend =)
I’m going to blog about this week soon! Some fun stuff is coming up that y’all should know about =DDD please keep reading. Keep praying. And for pete’s sake, write me some snail mail people! Show me the love! Haha just cuz I’m over here doesn’t mean I’ve dropped off the face of the earth. If you love me, or care about me in any way, if you’re my friend, I expect a letter from you soon. <3 message me for the address!
Love you all. Keep posted on my shutterfly account. There are tons of cool photos and some funny videos. I’ll be adding more soon. So for those of you without a facebook, I hope you’re checking =) http://ayearindenmark.shutterfly.com/
Take care! Rebekah
Monday, January 17, 2011
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Hey everyone =) I hope life is treating you all well. I know it is for me.
This past week has been good. I mean, besides the school part, of course =P I’ve been enjoying being back and seeing my friends. Not too much happened in the week. But my weekend was really good!
Friday I was free from school at about 1, which was great! I love getting out early. It’s a great start to the weekend =) I just went home and relaxed for awhile. That night my host sister had her birthday party with the girls from her class. Yes, there were about twelve 14 year old girls in my house that night. Crazy. It reminded me of how much I would never go back in time if I could =P but it was still a lot of fun for her. I met the girls, said hi, they stared at me a little. It was ok. Haha I let them just do their own thing. But you definitely knew they were in the house. All the laughing and talking at 1 am proved it =P good thing I wasn’t worried about sleeping.
So then I woke up on Saturday and watched a movie in the morning and then got ready to go out that night. I was heading out to a girls’ night with my exchange student friends. There are 6 of us, and we’re all girls. (two more kids are coming this week, but not sure if they are both girls or not) so I went to Ruby’s house (from New Zealand) and she, steph, and I waited for the other girls to come in their carpool. It was such a fun night. We ate this ginormous pizza, had some tea, had some cookies and cake, and watched great movies. And the best part, we stayed up, more or less, the whole night. Some of us slept for about 30 minutes during a movie, but other than that we were up =D it was a great way to spend my weekend. With the girls that I love. We were able to stay up and talk and just spend some quality time together, which is what I love. My host dad ended up coming to get me around 10.30 on Sunday morning and then we went home. All of us girls had declared that we were not the least bit sleepy, but as soon as I got home and checked my facebook, I was sound asleep for the next 7 hours. Yea, you can imagine how screwed up my sleeping is going to be for tonight. And for school tomorrow. That’s not going to be a fun day.
But all in all, it was a super fun weekend, and I’m glad I got to spend it with my girlies. It feels like we’re all just growing so close together, and every time we do something like this, it just strengthens the bond we have. =)
Coming up this week:: an English speech due in 8 hours (yikes! But I won’t be sleeping tonight anyway), volleyball practice TWO TIMES this week, meeting the new exchangers, hanging out with René (we aren’t sure when, but he just knows he doesn’t have a choice), and might be going out on Friday. Not sure yet, but those are the general plans for the week =D
Hoping to hear from y’all soon! Letters are always welcome =D miss you, much love.
Kys,
Rebekah
This past week has been good. I mean, besides the school part, of course =P I’ve been enjoying being back and seeing my friends. Not too much happened in the week. But my weekend was really good!
Friday I was free from school at about 1, which was great! I love getting out early. It’s a great start to the weekend =) I just went home and relaxed for awhile. That night my host sister had her birthday party with the girls from her class. Yes, there were about twelve 14 year old girls in my house that night. Crazy. It reminded me of how much I would never go back in time if I could =P but it was still a lot of fun for her. I met the girls, said hi, they stared at me a little. It was ok. Haha I let them just do their own thing. But you definitely knew they were in the house. All the laughing and talking at 1 am proved it =P good thing I wasn’t worried about sleeping.
So then I woke up on Saturday and watched a movie in the morning and then got ready to go out that night. I was heading out to a girls’ night with my exchange student friends. There are 6 of us, and we’re all girls. (two more kids are coming this week, but not sure if they are both girls or not) so I went to Ruby’s house (from New Zealand) and she, steph, and I waited for the other girls to come in their carpool. It was such a fun night. We ate this ginormous pizza, had some tea, had some cookies and cake, and watched great movies. And the best part, we stayed up, more or less, the whole night. Some of us slept for about 30 minutes during a movie, but other than that we were up =D it was a great way to spend my weekend. With the girls that I love. We were able to stay up and talk and just spend some quality time together, which is what I love. My host dad ended up coming to get me around 10.30 on Sunday morning and then we went home. All of us girls had declared that we were not the least bit sleepy, but as soon as I got home and checked my facebook, I was sound asleep for the next 7 hours. Yea, you can imagine how screwed up my sleeping is going to be for tonight. And for school tomorrow. That’s not going to be a fun day.
But all in all, it was a super fun weekend, and I’m glad I got to spend it with my girlies. It feels like we’re all just growing so close together, and every time we do something like this, it just strengthens the bond we have. =)
Coming up this week:: an English speech due in 8 hours (yikes! But I won’t be sleeping tonight anyway), volleyball practice TWO TIMES this week, meeting the new exchangers, hanging out with René (we aren’t sure when, but he just knows he doesn’t have a choice), and might be going out on Friday. Not sure yet, but those are the general plans for the week =D
Hoping to hear from y’all soon! Letters are always welcome =D miss you, much love.
Kys,
Rebekah
Friday, January 14, 2011
Accepted
Hello my beloved readers!!! Well, I promised that I would soon be writing a blog about life and things like that, since I’m now generally caught up on things that have been happening. =)
But first of all, I would like to announce my big news! So as I mentioned in previous posts, I’ve been looking at colleges a lot and thinking about what in the world I’m going to do and things like that. My number one college of choice was Corban University in Salem, OR. I just received a scholarship from them around Christmas time, but I had yet to be actually accepted to the college itself. Well I am happy to announce that today I received an email from my admissions counselor and guess what! I’M ACCEPTED!!!! =D he said I’ll be getting a packet in the mail detailing my next steps and financial aid and things like that. I’m just so completely happy right now. Now I just have to figure out how I’m actually going to PAY to go to this school, but hey, that’s no biggie, right =P I’m hoping I can earn enough in scholarships to pay for some of it. Otherwise, I’m still not sure if this dream can come true or not. We will see. Pray for me please.
Ok! Onto the *other news =P this is all a little less exciting to talk about, but you still must stay informed!
Like I said awhile ago, December was an exceptionally hard month for me. My 18th birthday was on the 7th, and then Christmas was coming too. In the same month. I missed my family horribly. It was almost unbearable at times. I say almost because had it been completely unbearable, then I would already be on a plane back home. But I made it which is good! Now that the holidays are over I can actually feel myself feeling better and less homesick. It was horrible for awhile though. But I’m glad I have good friends that are here for me.
Coming back to school was almost a nightmare in a sense. Waking up at 6 in the morning after 2½ weeks of sleeping until 10? Yea, THAT’S a nightmare for an 18 year old girl. Easily. But getting back into things weren’t as hard as I thought they would be. Everyone was coming back to school off of break, so we all pretty much felt the same way. Boring, boring, boring. But then again, school back home was rather boring too, but at least I did it =P I have some projects coming up in school which I’m required to do. One in English class, so that was obvious, a paper (5-7 pgs) on global warming for my ‘junior year project’, and sometime after that, if my teacher doesn’t forget, I’ll be giving a presentation about the Grand Canyon, or something cool like that in my geographies class. So! I’ll be busy soon again. Which is great. I’m also starting volleyball again! During the break it stopped, but then the other day the coach messaged us and told us it was starting again. 2 practices a week! Yay =D we had just one before, so I’m really happy. This is good. I love being active. And hopefully it will help me shed my holiday weight.
Ok, now language! I know you’re all dying to hear my Danish and how it’s going. Well, ok. My Danish is going pretty well. I’m still not fluent, not sure if that will ever come. So disheartening, but I’ll get over it. I haven’t dreamed again in Danish either, so that’s also sad =( but other than that! It’s going pretty decently I think. The thing that had me so upset earlier (a few months ago) was that I saw myself plateau-ing and I hated it. But recently I’ve been thinking, maybe I’m not just stuck, maybe I’m still moving, just at a snail’s pace. Hey, I’m ok with going as slow as molasses in January, at least it’s SOME progress. (by the way, that expression is from NE, and a lot of my friends from outside of the Midwest don’t understand it. They laugh) I’ve been speaking a new dialect that I like to call ‘Danglish’. It’s like Spanglish, but with Danish. English and Danish combined. I speak a lot of Danish, and I try to speak as much as I can, but when I don’t know how to say it I just switch back to English. This is probably the wrong approach to take, but o well. My understanding has improved some too. Now I’ve found that I don’t have to translate in my head, I just know that they say or are talking about. But yea, there are still some things where I need a few seconds to think about what was said. But the important thing is that I understand. I remember when I was a few months from my departure and I was listening to youtube videos of people teaching Danish. I was so frustrated because I didn’t understand a THING they said, of course. And I thought it was completely impossible to do. Danish sounded so hard. I wanted to just stay home and not go. I didn’t think I could do it. Well here I am now. Speaking and understanding Danish =) it’s a good feeling. I think it’s time I put things in perspective. I’ve been here 5½ months and had no training in Danish before I came. (besides the few things I taught myself) that’s not bad. I’ll take what I can get.
O by the way, my English has gotten horrible. I make silly grammar mistakes all the time now. And I’m a grammar nazi, I hate these mistakes. And my spelling is really questionable most of the time. Just thought I should let you know. So I can’t communicate in Danish -OR- English right now hahaha ^_^
My friend situation has gotten better. I’m really happy to say that. Some people in my class have done a 180 on me and are now talking to me and things. It’s great. I also had a few problems with my best Danish friend out here for awhile, but now that’s all fixed and we’re really good friends again =D and of course, my other exchange friends are solid. Yea, those are my solid friendships here. I don’t think you can really understand the bond unless you’ve been there yourself. We all trust each other with a lot. And we have trusted each other for a very long time. It’s nice to have ‘instant’ friends. I can see myself being friends with these girls after we leave each other this year. =)
Hmm..not much else to talk about. Those are the news updates in my exchange! Have I left anything out that you would like to know about? Well leave a comment or email me with anything you’d like to know! also, be sure to check out my photo sharing site if you don’t have facebook or aren’t connected with my facebok. ayearindenmark.shutterfly.com is where you’ll find a lot of great pictures and some videos of my time here =) keep in touch! I miss you all.
Kys,
Rebekah
But first of all, I would like to announce my big news! So as I mentioned in previous posts, I’ve been looking at colleges a lot and thinking about what in the world I’m going to do and things like that. My number one college of choice was Corban University in Salem, OR. I just received a scholarship from them around Christmas time, but I had yet to be actually accepted to the college itself. Well I am happy to announce that today I received an email from my admissions counselor and guess what! I’M ACCEPTED!!!! =D he said I’ll be getting a packet in the mail detailing my next steps and financial aid and things like that. I’m just so completely happy right now. Now I just have to figure out how I’m actually going to PAY to go to this school, but hey, that’s no biggie, right =P I’m hoping I can earn enough in scholarships to pay for some of it. Otherwise, I’m still not sure if this dream can come true or not. We will see. Pray for me please.
Ok! Onto the *other news =P this is all a little less exciting to talk about, but you still must stay informed!
Like I said awhile ago, December was an exceptionally hard month for me. My 18th birthday was on the 7th, and then Christmas was coming too. In the same month. I missed my family horribly. It was almost unbearable at times. I say almost because had it been completely unbearable, then I would already be on a plane back home. But I made it which is good! Now that the holidays are over I can actually feel myself feeling better and less homesick. It was horrible for awhile though. But I’m glad I have good friends that are here for me.
Coming back to school was almost a nightmare in a sense. Waking up at 6 in the morning after 2½ weeks of sleeping until 10? Yea, THAT’S a nightmare for an 18 year old girl. Easily. But getting back into things weren’t as hard as I thought they would be. Everyone was coming back to school off of break, so we all pretty much felt the same way. Boring, boring, boring. But then again, school back home was rather boring too, but at least I did it =P I have some projects coming up in school which I’m required to do. One in English class, so that was obvious, a paper (5-7 pgs) on global warming for my ‘junior year project’, and sometime after that, if my teacher doesn’t forget, I’ll be giving a presentation about the Grand Canyon, or something cool like that in my geographies class. So! I’ll be busy soon again. Which is great. I’m also starting volleyball again! During the break it stopped, but then the other day the coach messaged us and told us it was starting again. 2 practices a week! Yay =D we had just one before, so I’m really happy. This is good. I love being active. And hopefully it will help me shed my holiday weight.
Ok, now language! I know you’re all dying to hear my Danish and how it’s going. Well, ok. My Danish is going pretty well. I’m still not fluent, not sure if that will ever come. So disheartening, but I’ll get over it. I haven’t dreamed again in Danish either, so that’s also sad =( but other than that! It’s going pretty decently I think. The thing that had me so upset earlier (a few months ago) was that I saw myself plateau-ing and I hated it. But recently I’ve been thinking, maybe I’m not just stuck, maybe I’m still moving, just at a snail’s pace. Hey, I’m ok with going as slow as molasses in January, at least it’s SOME progress. (by the way, that expression is from NE, and a lot of my friends from outside of the Midwest don’t understand it. They laugh) I’ve been speaking a new dialect that I like to call ‘Danglish’. It’s like Spanglish, but with Danish. English and Danish combined. I speak a lot of Danish, and I try to speak as much as I can, but when I don’t know how to say it I just switch back to English. This is probably the wrong approach to take, but o well. My understanding has improved some too. Now I’ve found that I don’t have to translate in my head, I just know that they say or are talking about. But yea, there are still some things where I need a few seconds to think about what was said. But the important thing is that I understand. I remember when I was a few months from my departure and I was listening to youtube videos of people teaching Danish. I was so frustrated because I didn’t understand a THING they said, of course. And I thought it was completely impossible to do. Danish sounded so hard. I wanted to just stay home and not go. I didn’t think I could do it. Well here I am now. Speaking and understanding Danish =) it’s a good feeling. I think it’s time I put things in perspective. I’ve been here 5½ months and had no training in Danish before I came. (besides the few things I taught myself) that’s not bad. I’ll take what I can get.
O by the way, my English has gotten horrible. I make silly grammar mistakes all the time now. And I’m a grammar nazi, I hate these mistakes. And my spelling is really questionable most of the time. Just thought I should let you know. So I can’t communicate in Danish -OR- English right now hahaha ^_^
My friend situation has gotten better. I’m really happy to say that. Some people in my class have done a 180 on me and are now talking to me and things. It’s great. I also had a few problems with my best Danish friend out here for awhile, but now that’s all fixed and we’re really good friends again =D and of course, my other exchange friends are solid. Yea, those are my solid friendships here. I don’t think you can really understand the bond unless you’ve been there yourself. We all trust each other with a lot. And we have trusted each other for a very long time. It’s nice to have ‘instant’ friends. I can see myself being friends with these girls after we leave each other this year. =)
Hmm..not much else to talk about. Those are the news updates in my exchange! Have I left anything out that you would like to know about? Well leave a comment or email me with anything you’d like to know! also, be sure to check out my photo sharing site if you don’t have facebook or aren’t connected with my facebok. ayearindenmark.shutterfly.com is where you’ll find a lot of great pictures and some videos of my time here =) keep in touch! I miss you all.
Kys,
Rebekah
Monday, January 10, 2011
Shutterfly is officially up!
ok, i know that i promised a shutterfly awhile ago and i did create one. i've been posting the albums on this here blog, but i've now created a sharing site! this site will have all of my albums posted so you won't have to go through searching my blog if you want photos. =)
http://ayearindenmark.shutterfly.com/
leave comments and questions people! that's how i knew i needed to make this site, several people asked me where all these pictures were. so i do listen and answer =)
take care!
Rebekah
http://ayearindenmark.shutterfly.com/
leave comments and questions people! that's how i knew i needed to make this site, several people asked me where all these pictures were. so i do listen and answer =)
take care!
Rebekah
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Glædelig Jul...Godt Nytår
Ok, we’ve finally reached Christmas =D no title to guess this time, just a merry Christmas and happy new year. =P I’m almost caught up on all my blogging! Yea, I’m so happy now. It’s hard to get back into it when I’ve waited so long. But that’s not going to happen again! I’m now going to be a faithful blogger =D I hope
Ok, so I left off around the 18th of December, but actually that wasn’t the 18th, it was the 20th =P sorry for the confusion. I’ll have pictures of the lights up on my shutterfly soon. Please check them out!
So after the 20th, not much happened at all. It was all just relaxing at home and sleeping in. HEAVEN. Haha that’s the real horrible thing about going on a vacation. You rearrange your whole sleeping schedule. I went to bed at about 3 am and woke up at about 11 every day. Yea, that was horrible to go back to school =P but anywayz, here they celebrate Christmas on the 24th, Christmas eve, night. So it’s a bit different for me. They also put real candles on the tree along with the lights, and they sing around the tree like the Whos down in Whoville from the Grinch. O, and they eat like crazy. December brought SO.MUCH.FOOD! I hate thinking about it =P but on with the story!
My Christmas package from home hadn’t arrived by the 23rd, and so I knew I was going to get no presents from home for Christmas. This was really depressing for me. Not being able to open anything on the 25th just brought me down. So that day I had to clean my room, and it kept my mind off of things. While I was cleaning I found a letter from a college that my mom had sent to me. I hadn’t opened the letter because I thought it was just another invite to come see the campus, so I simply through it aside. Well on this day I was cleaning my room I picked up this letter and finally decided to open it. I opened the letter and went completely bug eyed. I then immediately started to cry and sob. I guess I should tell you what this letter was. It was a scholarship. To my first choice college. A $32,000 scholarship to use over a 4 year period. I just broke down and sat on my floor and cried. I was so over whelmed by how amazing this felt and how happy I was. Christmas had brought something special after all. I haven’t been accepted to this college yet, I’m expecting to hear from them this up coming week, but if you remember in my last post I was saying how sad I was to not be able to afford to go to this school. Well now, it might just be possible. =) that was the best present I’ve ever received. And it wasn’t even Christmas day yet =P
We then celebrated Christmas on the night of the 24th with a big dinner, then the presents. My host dad actually got sick during dinner, but he still did presents with us. I got 2 gifts from my family: a pair of water proof rubber boots, and a shirt with some shoes on it from my host sister =) great gifts. That night we stayed up, just my host mom and sister and I because my host dad went to bed early, and watched the 3rd Twilight movie that my host sister got for one of her presents. It was great. After that we all hit the hay and went to bed.
The next day was the 25th, my Christmas morning. I woke up kind of late and just lounged around. My family and I had lunch and played some board games for a few hours. We just hung around for a few hours, my sister and I watched dirty dancing, her other present, and then it was time for dinner. We ate and had a good time together, and then around 7 I went up to my room and had a few hours to skype with my family. It was nice. Really hard, but nice. They hadn’t received the package I sent home for them either, so that was a little sad. But it was nice to see them and talk to them. I miss my family. I told you, December was just one awful month for me.
On the 26th was my host sister’s 14th birthday, so we had some family and family friends over for lunch and coffee and cake. It was ok. Really boring. Like fall to sleep at the table boring. But my host mom told me I could just go up to my room, and that I didn’t have to stay down there the whole time. That was great. After the cake and coffee I went up to my room and fell asleep =P I was up there the rest of the night ^_^
And that was my Christmas in a nutshell! Now I’ll tell a little about the few days after that:
I received my packages from home, finally! I swear the Danish post just hates me for some reason and doesn’t want to give me my mail. So that was really great to finally get stuff from home. My parents and I skyped and I opened their presents while they opened the ones from me =) I went shopping with one of my close Danish friends, René. He picked out a black dress for me, and I bought it =D (my rotary club gave me a gift card to a store, so I spent some of that) then stephanie and I went shopping and I bought ANOTHER dress, a shirt, a scarf (so I can look Danish), and a light jacket. Everything was on sale, so it was ok =P
Now on to New Year’s. =)
A lot of people go to parties on new year’s, but I stayed home with my family and Stephanie came over for the night. It was great. We arrived back home (I had to go get her by bus) just in time for the queen’s speech. If we had missed that speech, I just know we would have been in BIG trouble. But we made it with 2 minutes to spare =P we ate dinner together and just hung out until midnight watching tv and talking and things. Then at the midnight countdown we ate a little piece of cake and drank some champagne. Well, us kiddies had some sparkling peach juice or something like that. =P then we went out and set off the fireworks! Yes, Denmark lights off fireworks for their new year =D it was a lot of fun. I love watching fireworks. It makes me happy to know I’ll be back home in time for the 4th of July. I would miss not seeing the show. Then steph and I went to my room, watched a movie, dyed my hair, then passed out =D all in all, it was a great New Year’s. =)
Then school started on the 5th of January. Now that I’ve caught up with what’s been happening to me, I’ll be able to post more recent things, how things are going, and how I’m doing. Thanks for reading. O! and be sure to check out my shutterfly pictures if you are not my facebook friend. I’m trying to let those of you without a facebook to still be able to see things that I’m involved with. =)
Thanks for the prayers and support. Miss you all. Love you.
<3 Rebekah
Ok, so I left off around the 18th of December, but actually that wasn’t the 18th, it was the 20th =P sorry for the confusion. I’ll have pictures of the lights up on my shutterfly soon. Please check them out!
So after the 20th, not much happened at all. It was all just relaxing at home and sleeping in. HEAVEN. Haha that’s the real horrible thing about going on a vacation. You rearrange your whole sleeping schedule. I went to bed at about 3 am and woke up at about 11 every day. Yea, that was horrible to go back to school =P but anywayz, here they celebrate Christmas on the 24th, Christmas eve, night. So it’s a bit different for me. They also put real candles on the tree along with the lights, and they sing around the tree like the Whos down in Whoville from the Grinch. O, and they eat like crazy. December brought SO.MUCH.FOOD! I hate thinking about it =P but on with the story!
My Christmas package from home hadn’t arrived by the 23rd, and so I knew I was going to get no presents from home for Christmas. This was really depressing for me. Not being able to open anything on the 25th just brought me down. So that day I had to clean my room, and it kept my mind off of things. While I was cleaning I found a letter from a college that my mom had sent to me. I hadn’t opened the letter because I thought it was just another invite to come see the campus, so I simply through it aside. Well on this day I was cleaning my room I picked up this letter and finally decided to open it. I opened the letter and went completely bug eyed. I then immediately started to cry and sob. I guess I should tell you what this letter was. It was a scholarship. To my first choice college. A $32,000 scholarship to use over a 4 year period. I just broke down and sat on my floor and cried. I was so over whelmed by how amazing this felt and how happy I was. Christmas had brought something special after all. I haven’t been accepted to this college yet, I’m expecting to hear from them this up coming week, but if you remember in my last post I was saying how sad I was to not be able to afford to go to this school. Well now, it might just be possible. =) that was the best present I’ve ever received. And it wasn’t even Christmas day yet =P
We then celebrated Christmas on the night of the 24th with a big dinner, then the presents. My host dad actually got sick during dinner, but he still did presents with us. I got 2 gifts from my family: a pair of water proof rubber boots, and a shirt with some shoes on it from my host sister =) great gifts. That night we stayed up, just my host mom and sister and I because my host dad went to bed early, and watched the 3rd Twilight movie that my host sister got for one of her presents. It was great. After that we all hit the hay and went to bed.
The next day was the 25th, my Christmas morning. I woke up kind of late and just lounged around. My family and I had lunch and played some board games for a few hours. We just hung around for a few hours, my sister and I watched dirty dancing, her other present, and then it was time for dinner. We ate and had a good time together, and then around 7 I went up to my room and had a few hours to skype with my family. It was nice. Really hard, but nice. They hadn’t received the package I sent home for them either, so that was a little sad. But it was nice to see them and talk to them. I miss my family. I told you, December was just one awful month for me.
On the 26th was my host sister’s 14th birthday, so we had some family and family friends over for lunch and coffee and cake. It was ok. Really boring. Like fall to sleep at the table boring. But my host mom told me I could just go up to my room, and that I didn’t have to stay down there the whole time. That was great. After the cake and coffee I went up to my room and fell asleep =P I was up there the rest of the night ^_^
And that was my Christmas in a nutshell! Now I’ll tell a little about the few days after that:
I received my packages from home, finally! I swear the Danish post just hates me for some reason and doesn’t want to give me my mail. So that was really great to finally get stuff from home. My parents and I skyped and I opened their presents while they opened the ones from me =) I went shopping with one of my close Danish friends, René. He picked out a black dress for me, and I bought it =D (my rotary club gave me a gift card to a store, so I spent some of that) then stephanie and I went shopping and I bought ANOTHER dress, a shirt, a scarf (so I can look Danish), and a light jacket. Everything was on sale, so it was ok =P
Now on to New Year’s. =)
A lot of people go to parties on new year’s, but I stayed home with my family and Stephanie came over for the night. It was great. We arrived back home (I had to go get her by bus) just in time for the queen’s speech. If we had missed that speech, I just know we would have been in BIG trouble. But we made it with 2 minutes to spare =P we ate dinner together and just hung out until midnight watching tv and talking and things. Then at the midnight countdown we ate a little piece of cake and drank some champagne. Well, us kiddies had some sparkling peach juice or something like that. =P then we went out and set off the fireworks! Yes, Denmark lights off fireworks for their new year =D it was a lot of fun. I love watching fireworks. It makes me happy to know I’ll be back home in time for the 4th of July. I would miss not seeing the show. Then steph and I went to my room, watched a movie, dyed my hair, then passed out =D all in all, it was a great New Year’s. =)
Then school started on the 5th of January. Now that I’ve caught up with what’s been happening to me, I’ll be able to post more recent things, how things are going, and how I’m doing. Thanks for reading. O! and be sure to check out my shutterfly pictures if you are not my facebook friend. I’m trying to let those of you without a facebook to still be able to see things that I’m involved with. =)
Thanks for the prayers and support. Miss you all. Love you.
<3 Rebekah
Merry Christmas ya filthy animal...and a Happy New Year
Guess where my latest title is from and I’ll send you something in the mail! =) what movie is this quote from. The first person to tell me wins. Thanks for playing, and read on!
December!!!!! Ok so we’ve finally reached it. The big month. The month I knew would be the hardest in my whole exchange. My 18th birthday and Christmas all rolled into one. Greattttttttt. Let’s get started!
So if you remember from my last post, I had gone to a basketball practice and was asked to play at a tournament in Copenhagen. We were a team of 7. We played 4 games. We lost all of them. But! We got to go shopping in the freezing cold afterwards. That somehow makes up for it, doesn’t it? Haha it was horrible. I remember why I quit basketball in the first place. I suck. Out of 4 games, I made 1 basket. But I did manage to get super physical and lost my temper once or twice. No biggie. -_- I’m convinced that these people don’t know how to actually play basketball. The fouls were flying. It was a mad house. But o well, we couldn’t help that. We tried. That’s all that matters I guess…I don’t really plan on going back to practice. I can’t play basketball for the life of me. Sorry if that disappoints anyone, but you’ll just have to deal with it. =)
On Friday, December 3, my class had a ‘Julefrokost’. It’s a Christmas dinner. So much fun! My whole class showed up besides one or two I think. It was just a great time. We all got to spend time together and talk and have fun being Danish. We ate some great traditional food, played a game with presents, and just partied it up. See, I wish our class could do things like that together more often. Inside the classroom there are some divisions, but everyone can work with everyone. Outside of the classroom we don’t all hang out together, but at a party together we all are like best friends. It’s great and I just would like to have more chances like that to have fun with my class. We will see ;) I left the julefrokost at about 2 I think? Then I pretty much passed out in bed, I was soooo tired. Then I had to wake up early the next morning because my Danish class was having its FINAL trip to the city together. So we all met up at Næstved train station at about 9 in the morning, but because of the snow, Bryan from New Zealand was running late. So we all just waited inside out of the wind and cold. And there was a completely off his rocker, drunk guy there. He started talking to our Danish teacher and then kind of talked to us. It was SOOOOO funny. O the things you can encounter in a train station at 9 in the morning after almost everyone in Denmark has a Christmas party =P when Bryan finally got there, we set out into the city, but we didn’t take the same long tour as the first time. It was freezing outside, so we walked past some of the sites, Majbritt said a few things, then we went downtown and got some hot chocolate or the like. It was good =) I love those people in class. So we ended up heading home at about 12. And as soon as I got home, I went in for a nap =P but there was no rest for the weary because I had to get up at 7.45 the next morning to attend a 5 km march for children. My rotary club loves me I think. Haha it was me, my host dad, and 2 other members that showed up. I took the initiative, which I think they appreciate. After the march we went to one of the member’s house and had some coffee and cake. It was nice. Then we headed home again =)
The rest of the week was pretty boring actually. On Monday night I went to my rotary’s Christmas dinner. It was nice. There were also about 16 swedish people that came. So it was super interesting to hear Swedish AND Danish being spoken. You can definitely hear the difference. Swedish, and Norwegian I must add, sounds a lot smoother, like melody almost. Whereas Danish is more definite. But all in all it was a good night. An old Swedish man sat next to me and he chatted away with me. He was quite the gentleman too, he held my chair out for me to sit in =D haha it was good.
Then! On Tuesday it was my 18th =D yes, I turned the big 1-8. I took some cake to school, they all sang to me, it was good. I still haven’t had my birthday party yet, but I hope to have it at the end of the month maybe. Not sure yet though. We had a nice family night. My host mom couldn’t be there, but my host dad and Maria and I went out to dinner at a little restaurant. It was nice. Danes don’t eat out that often at all, so it was a special occasion for me =) we didn’t do anything big on Tuesday, but on Wednesday we had my other 2 families come over and the rotary club president. It was nice. We had cake and coffee. (I’ve eaten SO MUCH STINKING CAKE in December. I’m surprised I’m not as big as a house) I got some really great presents from them all. And I’m very grateful. =) 2 new necklaces, some Christina Aguilera perfume, an ornament, a gift card for 500 kr. and a bracelet =D it was a great birthday night. O and something funny? We didn’t have enough candle holders, so I got to put 6 train cars on my cake! Hahah yes, I just turned 18, but I fought for those trains. =P
On Friday was my host mom’s birthday, and she had 3 friends over for cake and coffee. So.much.cake. yea I can’t tell you how much I ate this month. It was horrible. Because the next day, my next host sister was having HER 18th birthday family get together. Again, food, and coffee and cake. Wow. Luckily, there were no more birthdays that week. So I got a break! =P but on December 17th, school was let out for Christmas break, and what do you think I did for several of those days? Yea, I just sat around the house and ate. I’m actually scared to get on that scale in the bathroom. I just keep telling myself that my clothes still fit, so it’s ok. =) whatever helps me sleep at night, ya know.
The week after the break started, me and my host dad and my sister took a trip to Copenhagen to visit this museum full of ancient greek, roman, and Egyptian artifacts. It was so cool. I saw things that were over 2,000 years old. Crazy! And I saw a real live mummy!!!! Wait, ok, not the LIVE part, but a real mummy! Two of them actually =D it was soooooooo cool to see all of that stuff. After the museum maria and I went to shop and get some hot chocolate while her dad was visiting a friend. It was nice. A lot of fun. Freezing, yes, but a lot of fun haha
On the 18th my counselor took me to Copenhagen so we could see Tivoli lit up in Christmas lights and see all the Christmas displays. It was great. So beautiful. My counselor is one of the sweetest women in the world. She was an exchange student in the 60s, not with any organization, and she still talks with her family and goes on vacations with them. It’s so great. I would love to be like her when my exchange is over. I can see that happening to me.
Anyway, that is my December up until Christmas. I’m going to write all about Christmas and new years next. Wow, I had A LOT of writing to catch up on. But aren’t you happy to read this stuff again? O I know you are ;)
Hugs and kisses <3
Rebekah
December!!!!! Ok so we’ve finally reached it. The big month. The month I knew would be the hardest in my whole exchange. My 18th birthday and Christmas all rolled into one. Greattttttttt. Let’s get started!
So if you remember from my last post, I had gone to a basketball practice and was asked to play at a tournament in Copenhagen. We were a team of 7. We played 4 games. We lost all of them. But! We got to go shopping in the freezing cold afterwards. That somehow makes up for it, doesn’t it? Haha it was horrible. I remember why I quit basketball in the first place. I suck. Out of 4 games, I made 1 basket. But I did manage to get super physical and lost my temper once or twice. No biggie. -_- I’m convinced that these people don’t know how to actually play basketball. The fouls were flying. It was a mad house. But o well, we couldn’t help that. We tried. That’s all that matters I guess…I don’t really plan on going back to practice. I can’t play basketball for the life of me. Sorry if that disappoints anyone, but you’ll just have to deal with it. =)
On Friday, December 3, my class had a ‘Julefrokost’. It’s a Christmas dinner. So much fun! My whole class showed up besides one or two I think. It was just a great time. We all got to spend time together and talk and have fun being Danish. We ate some great traditional food, played a game with presents, and just partied it up. See, I wish our class could do things like that together more often. Inside the classroom there are some divisions, but everyone can work with everyone. Outside of the classroom we don’t all hang out together, but at a party together we all are like best friends. It’s great and I just would like to have more chances like that to have fun with my class. We will see ;) I left the julefrokost at about 2 I think? Then I pretty much passed out in bed, I was soooo tired. Then I had to wake up early the next morning because my Danish class was having its FINAL trip to the city together. So we all met up at Næstved train station at about 9 in the morning, but because of the snow, Bryan from New Zealand was running late. So we all just waited inside out of the wind and cold. And there was a completely off his rocker, drunk guy there. He started talking to our Danish teacher and then kind of talked to us. It was SOOOOO funny. O the things you can encounter in a train station at 9 in the morning after almost everyone in Denmark has a Christmas party =P when Bryan finally got there, we set out into the city, but we didn’t take the same long tour as the first time. It was freezing outside, so we walked past some of the sites, Majbritt said a few things, then we went downtown and got some hot chocolate or the like. It was good =) I love those people in class. So we ended up heading home at about 12. And as soon as I got home, I went in for a nap =P but there was no rest for the weary because I had to get up at 7.45 the next morning to attend a 5 km march for children. My rotary club loves me I think. Haha it was me, my host dad, and 2 other members that showed up. I took the initiative, which I think they appreciate. After the march we went to one of the member’s house and had some coffee and cake. It was nice. Then we headed home again =)
The rest of the week was pretty boring actually. On Monday night I went to my rotary’s Christmas dinner. It was nice. There were also about 16 swedish people that came. So it was super interesting to hear Swedish AND Danish being spoken. You can definitely hear the difference. Swedish, and Norwegian I must add, sounds a lot smoother, like melody almost. Whereas Danish is more definite. But all in all it was a good night. An old Swedish man sat next to me and he chatted away with me. He was quite the gentleman too, he held my chair out for me to sit in =D haha it was good.
Then! On Tuesday it was my 18th =D yes, I turned the big 1-8. I took some cake to school, they all sang to me, it was good. I still haven’t had my birthday party yet, but I hope to have it at the end of the month maybe. Not sure yet though. We had a nice family night. My host mom couldn’t be there, but my host dad and Maria and I went out to dinner at a little restaurant. It was nice. Danes don’t eat out that often at all, so it was a special occasion for me =) we didn’t do anything big on Tuesday, but on Wednesday we had my other 2 families come over and the rotary club president. It was nice. We had cake and coffee. (I’ve eaten SO MUCH STINKING CAKE in December. I’m surprised I’m not as big as a house) I got some really great presents from them all. And I’m very grateful. =) 2 new necklaces, some Christina Aguilera perfume, an ornament, a gift card for 500 kr. and a bracelet =D it was a great birthday night. O and something funny? We didn’t have enough candle holders, so I got to put 6 train cars on my cake! Hahah yes, I just turned 18, but I fought for those trains. =P
On Friday was my host mom’s birthday, and she had 3 friends over for cake and coffee. So.much.cake. yea I can’t tell you how much I ate this month. It was horrible. Because the next day, my next host sister was having HER 18th birthday family get together. Again, food, and coffee and cake. Wow. Luckily, there were no more birthdays that week. So I got a break! =P but on December 17th, school was let out for Christmas break, and what do you think I did for several of those days? Yea, I just sat around the house and ate. I’m actually scared to get on that scale in the bathroom. I just keep telling myself that my clothes still fit, so it’s ok. =) whatever helps me sleep at night, ya know.
The week after the break started, me and my host dad and my sister took a trip to Copenhagen to visit this museum full of ancient greek, roman, and Egyptian artifacts. It was so cool. I saw things that were over 2,000 years old. Crazy! And I saw a real live mummy!!!! Wait, ok, not the LIVE part, but a real mummy! Two of them actually =D it was soooooooo cool to see all of that stuff. After the museum maria and I went to shop and get some hot chocolate while her dad was visiting a friend. It was nice. A lot of fun. Freezing, yes, but a lot of fun haha
On the 18th my counselor took me to Copenhagen so we could see Tivoli lit up in Christmas lights and see all the Christmas displays. It was great. So beautiful. My counselor is one of the sweetest women in the world. She was an exchange student in the 60s, not with any organization, and she still talks with her family and goes on vacations with them. It’s so great. I would love to be like her when my exchange is over. I can see that happening to me.
Anyway, that is my December up until Christmas. I’m going to write all about Christmas and new years next. Wow, I had A LOT of writing to catch up on. But aren’t you happy to read this stuff again? O I know you are ;)
Hugs and kisses <3
Rebekah
I suffer from short term memory loss. It runs in my family... At least I think it does...
Hi again =) thanks for reading. Once again, I’d like to thank you faithful readers with a reward! The FIRST person to tell me which movie my title comes from will get something Danish in the mail at some point of my exchange. Play fair, children =) no googling, you have to just KNOW which movie it comes from. But it shouldn’t be too hard..
Ok, this post will be primarily about November. Or, what I can remember about November that is =P come on, it was a good 2 months ago! So let me try to remember. Haha this is not in chronological order, by the way ;)
From what I do remember, November was a boring month. I went to a basketball practice after quitting 2 years ago. It was probably one of the worst experiences of my life to go back haha. Yea, I’m NOT a basketball player. Or fan. ^_^ so I went to one practice, and apparently that automatically signed my name in blood to play at a tournament in Copenhagen. Woo hoo…but I wouldn’t have to actually play until December, so that’s ok.
Then, the worst part of the WHOLE month. It decided to start snowing. Right before thanksgiving. I swear we got like a foot of snow at one time. It was so cold =( and everyone happily assured me that this was completely abnormal even for Denmark. Greattttttt, I picked a bad year to come apparently haha.
O, and by the way, I forgot about thanksgiving. ^_^ yes, I did. Haha I thought it was a week sooner than it actually was, and then I saw on facebook that I FORGOT ABOUT IT!!! But I guess it’s ok. Nothing special happened on that night. Except! I got to see my first American football game since arriving in Denmark. I don’t remember the teams that were playing, I didn’t favor either side, but it felt sooooooooo good to watch again =D yes I’m a girl, and yes I’m a huge football fanatic =D I love it. O, I have a story. I was with a guy friend at lunch one day and we were talking about football. And he doesn’t know anything about the game, like the rules or anything. And here’s a quote from him on that day of lunch: “So I’m just supposed to watch it and enjoy it? How am I supposed to know when they get a homerun and why that happened?” I nearly dyed laughing. I then proceeded to explain to him that homeruns were in baseball. He doesn’t know much about baseball either, I guess =P
November was an exceptionally frustrating month for me. I had to figure out a lot about colleges and scholarships. Not fun from so far away from home. I went back and forth on a lot of things. I went from wanting to repeat this year in high school when I go back, to attending a community college when I go back, to attending a university. I’m going to be honest here, I applied for a total of 3, count ‘em, THREE! colleges back a few months. That probably sounds super irresponsible to a lot of you guys, but there weren’t really ANY colleges that I knew much about. So I applied to a few colleges that looked good just so I could say I applied. I was actually all for going to the community college in Newport for the longest time. That’s kind of changed now. In November I really fell in love with a college and set my heart on going there. It’s a small private college in Salem, OR. Luckily, or more like by Providence, this was one of the few colleges that I originally applied to. I started reading a lot about it. I started emailing a rep. I just absolutely want to go to this school. But in November I finally found out about the price tag. Way too much. More than I can afford. So it was really frustrating. I started looking at the other college I applied to. It looks good too, but it’s all the way back in Nebraska. And I just don’t feel like going back there. It’s so far away. But it’s a cheaper school, so I’ve kept it on my options. And guess what? I got my very first acceptance to that school =D my first acceptance letter. It was such a great feeling. Not my number one choice, but it’s great to have options! I actually don’t hear from my first choice college in November, or December. They are still missing a certain item from my application that I needed someone else to fill out for me. Which I repeatedly asked a person to do this for me, but I guess this person was too busy. It’s ok, I found someone else that was willing to help me. (a little bitterness? Only a little)
I went on a trip to Copenhagen with my danish class during November. It was so much fun =D we walked all around the city. But guess what happened to me! I was walking down the street and I saw someone I knew! I saw Jonathan, an exchange student from Sweden that was in Oregon last year. Wow small world! So we stopped and talked for a little bit before I almost lost my class and ran to catch up with them. This completely made my day. It was so crazy. What are the odds…the rest of the trip went on really well. Stephanie and Bryan, an oldie AFSer from New Zealand, were able to crash some kind of comic con. And that just made their trip the best ever haha. Then we packed up on a train and headed home. At last! My feet hurt soooo bad from all the walking. It’s not like I saw lots of new things. I’ve pretty much seen all the interesting parts of Copenhagen several times over ^_^ but we did walk down to Christiania, the little ‘world of its own.’ Interesting. That’s about all I can say. Our Danish teacher made sure no one was tempted to buy hash cakes, so don’t worry =P
The day after I went to Copenhagen it was MOVING DAY!!! That’s right, I was switching to my second family =) I was terribly nervous, but I somehow managed to pack most of my stuff the night before, only saving a few things for the next day, Sunday. We left the house around noon, and we packed all 9 bags of mine into the car and set off. Yes, I had NINE bags to take to my new house. 1 suit case, 1 book bag, 1 messenger bag, and 6 plastic bags from the store…yea I have no idea how I’m going to get home with all this junk! I have no idea how it happened either. I’ve hardly bought anything at all…anyway, so we got to my new house which is approx. 5 km away. =P yea, a GREAT change of scenery. Except I’m actually in a village this time, and not 3 km in the country. That’s ok with me. No more riding my bike in the mornings! I’ve been looking forward to that since September =P so I got all my stuff over to my new house, and both of my families and I had a little coffee and cake, chatted for a little over an hour, then I said goodbye and moved into my new room. It’s a nice cozy room. I really like it. My new family is Klaus, Inge-Magrathe, and a little host sister, Maria who is now 14. They have a son who is 16, but he is in Taiwan right now on his exchange. So I’m living in his room =) I really like this new family. They are great people, and maria and I are practically like sisters right now. It’s good. =)
The following weekend, I had a girlfriend, an exchanger from Illinois, come stay at my house. We went to see the new Harry Potter movie, went shopping, and dyed our hair. It was such a fun weekend. We did a lot of talking and stuff. I miss her. She decided that Denmark was just not her cup of tea, and she left a week later. =( we still talk, but I miss having her here. And I’m really going to miss her at the rotary get togethers.
That’s about all I can remember from November. I hung out with some friends I’m sure. I went out with Stephanie, I’m positive about that one. Haha she’s definitely my best gal here. She’s great and we’ve already made plans to hang out when we get home. Since she just lives in cali and I live super close to cali. It’s great…I don’t think I’m forgetting anything important. I’ll let you know later =P my next entry will be about December!!! So stay tuned =DD I’ll also be posting the latest updates about school, language, and friends soon. Thanks for reading. Thanks for the prayers and support. Love you all.
Kisses and hugs <3
Rebekah
Ok, this post will be primarily about November. Or, what I can remember about November that is =P come on, it was a good 2 months ago! So let me try to remember. Haha this is not in chronological order, by the way ;)
From what I do remember, November was a boring month. I went to a basketball practice after quitting 2 years ago. It was probably one of the worst experiences of my life to go back haha. Yea, I’m NOT a basketball player. Or fan. ^_^ so I went to one practice, and apparently that automatically signed my name in blood to play at a tournament in Copenhagen. Woo hoo…but I wouldn’t have to actually play until December, so that’s ok.
Then, the worst part of the WHOLE month. It decided to start snowing. Right before thanksgiving. I swear we got like a foot of snow at one time. It was so cold =( and everyone happily assured me that this was completely abnormal even for Denmark. Greattttttt, I picked a bad year to come apparently haha.
O, and by the way, I forgot about thanksgiving. ^_^ yes, I did. Haha I thought it was a week sooner than it actually was, and then I saw on facebook that I FORGOT ABOUT IT!!! But I guess it’s ok. Nothing special happened on that night. Except! I got to see my first American football game since arriving in Denmark. I don’t remember the teams that were playing, I didn’t favor either side, but it felt sooooooooo good to watch again =D yes I’m a girl, and yes I’m a huge football fanatic =D I love it. O, I have a story. I was with a guy friend at lunch one day and we were talking about football. And he doesn’t know anything about the game, like the rules or anything. And here’s a quote from him on that day of lunch: “So I’m just supposed to watch it and enjoy it? How am I supposed to know when they get a homerun and why that happened?” I nearly dyed laughing. I then proceeded to explain to him that homeruns were in baseball. He doesn’t know much about baseball either, I guess =P
November was an exceptionally frustrating month for me. I had to figure out a lot about colleges and scholarships. Not fun from so far away from home. I went back and forth on a lot of things. I went from wanting to repeat this year in high school when I go back, to attending a community college when I go back, to attending a university. I’m going to be honest here, I applied for a total of 3, count ‘em, THREE! colleges back a few months. That probably sounds super irresponsible to a lot of you guys, but there weren’t really ANY colleges that I knew much about. So I applied to a few colleges that looked good just so I could say I applied. I was actually all for going to the community college in Newport for the longest time. That’s kind of changed now. In November I really fell in love with a college and set my heart on going there. It’s a small private college in Salem, OR. Luckily, or more like by Providence, this was one of the few colleges that I originally applied to. I started reading a lot about it. I started emailing a rep. I just absolutely want to go to this school. But in November I finally found out about the price tag. Way too much. More than I can afford. So it was really frustrating. I started looking at the other college I applied to. It looks good too, but it’s all the way back in Nebraska. And I just don’t feel like going back there. It’s so far away. But it’s a cheaper school, so I’ve kept it on my options. And guess what? I got my very first acceptance to that school =D my first acceptance letter. It was such a great feeling. Not my number one choice, but it’s great to have options! I actually don’t hear from my first choice college in November, or December. They are still missing a certain item from my application that I needed someone else to fill out for me. Which I repeatedly asked a person to do this for me, but I guess this person was too busy. It’s ok, I found someone else that was willing to help me. (a little bitterness? Only a little)
I went on a trip to Copenhagen with my danish class during November. It was so much fun =D we walked all around the city. But guess what happened to me! I was walking down the street and I saw someone I knew! I saw Jonathan, an exchange student from Sweden that was in Oregon last year. Wow small world! So we stopped and talked for a little bit before I almost lost my class and ran to catch up with them. This completely made my day. It was so crazy. What are the odds…the rest of the trip went on really well. Stephanie and Bryan, an oldie AFSer from New Zealand, were able to crash some kind of comic con. And that just made their trip the best ever haha. Then we packed up on a train and headed home. At last! My feet hurt soooo bad from all the walking. It’s not like I saw lots of new things. I’ve pretty much seen all the interesting parts of Copenhagen several times over ^_^ but we did walk down to Christiania, the little ‘world of its own.’ Interesting. That’s about all I can say. Our Danish teacher made sure no one was tempted to buy hash cakes, so don’t worry =P
The day after I went to Copenhagen it was MOVING DAY!!! That’s right, I was switching to my second family =) I was terribly nervous, but I somehow managed to pack most of my stuff the night before, only saving a few things for the next day, Sunday. We left the house around noon, and we packed all 9 bags of mine into the car and set off. Yes, I had NINE bags to take to my new house. 1 suit case, 1 book bag, 1 messenger bag, and 6 plastic bags from the store…yea I have no idea how I’m going to get home with all this junk! I have no idea how it happened either. I’ve hardly bought anything at all…anyway, so we got to my new house which is approx. 5 km away. =P yea, a GREAT change of scenery. Except I’m actually in a village this time, and not 3 km in the country. That’s ok with me. No more riding my bike in the mornings! I’ve been looking forward to that since September =P so I got all my stuff over to my new house, and both of my families and I had a little coffee and cake, chatted for a little over an hour, then I said goodbye and moved into my new room. It’s a nice cozy room. I really like it. My new family is Klaus, Inge-Magrathe, and a little host sister, Maria who is now 14. They have a son who is 16, but he is in Taiwan right now on his exchange. So I’m living in his room =) I really like this new family. They are great people, and maria and I are practically like sisters right now. It’s good. =)
The following weekend, I had a girlfriend, an exchanger from Illinois, come stay at my house. We went to see the new Harry Potter movie, went shopping, and dyed our hair. It was such a fun weekend. We did a lot of talking and stuff. I miss her. She decided that Denmark was just not her cup of tea, and she left a week later. =( we still talk, but I miss having her here. And I’m really going to miss her at the rotary get togethers.
That’s about all I can remember from November. I hung out with some friends I’m sure. I went out with Stephanie, I’m positive about that one. Haha she’s definitely my best gal here. She’s great and we’ve already made plans to hang out when we get home. Since she just lives in cali and I live super close to cali. It’s great…I don’t think I’m forgetting anything important. I’ll let you know later =P my next entry will be about December!!! So stay tuned =DD I’ll also be posting the latest updates about school, language, and friends soon. Thanks for reading. Thanks for the prayers and support. Love you all.
Kisses and hugs <3
Rebekah
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